Psychedelic medicine comes at a critical time to support our nation’s mental health crisis, bringing hope to millions of Americans who seek wellness and relief from behavioral health issues, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
A new generation of scientists revived research to validate the proposition that clinical use of psychedelics in a carefully prescribed and monitored setting can induce a therapeutic experience that is medically safe in sustaining profound, durable psychological and behavioral change. This growing body of research is helping to dispel the social stigma surrounding “psychedelics” and employers are taking a healthcare perspective on covering this treatment as a meaningful health benefit.
As science now better understands the health and wellness improvements derived from the medicinal use of psycho-active compounds, such as ketamine, this novel, innovative approach introduces opportunities for a safe, cost-effective mental health treatment that deviates from traditional pharmacological interventions.
An Effective Therapy to Support Employee Mental Health and Wellness
National surveys reveal a disconnect between employees and employers around mental health needs. Employees report not receiving the mental health and wellness care they need, not because they don’t have access to mental health treatments, but because traditional approaches aren’t working.
As employers are prioritizing mental health in the midst of this crisis, many are exploring the alternative option of offering psychedelic options, such as ketamine assisted therapy (KAT), as an employee benefit. The challenge for many plan administrators is how and where to start.
Enter Enthea, the first and only licensed third-party administrator (TPA) of psychedelic healthcare in the United States. As an emerging innovator of healthcare, Enthea brings together the worlds of PAT and workplace benefits, which is a relatively unexplored intersection. Key to the Enthea mission is its advocacy for the safe and effective clinical use of psychedelics and ensuring affordable and equitable access to this life-changing therapy.
Therapeutic Use of Ketamine
KAT introduces a safe and effective treatment that deviates from traditional pharmacological interventions. The clinical and therapeutic use of ketamine is legal in the U.S. in all 50 states to treat patients suffering from not only serious mental illness who have tried other medications with little or no relief, but also others who are struggling to a lesser severity.
Through a structured and supportive psychotherapeutic framework, KAT is facilitated by a clinical process within a controlled setting accompanied by licensed therapists under medical supervision. In clinical studies, ketamine demonstrates remarkable efficacy in treating a wide range of mental and behavioral health conditions that are often resistant to conventional treatments.
How Does This Therapy Work?
Ketamine and other psychedelics encourage the growth of new connections between neurons in the brain, and as dissociative drugs, they temporarily alter a person’s mood, thoughts and perceptions. Patients report feeling strong emotions and experience vast changes in how they perceive reality. In the same manner, ketamine can help restore an individual’s sense of rhythm and balance.
In subanesthetic dosages, ketamine serves as an adjunct to psychotherapy, providing an opportunity for the temporary softening of psychological defenses, which may result in deeper self-reflection and psychotherapeutic processing. This helps break long-standing, deeply ingrained thinking patterns associated with a variety of mental health conditions and, in turn, develop new ways of thinking and being.
Ketamine accelerates the therapeutic process to achieve a state of deep introspection, emotional breakthroughs, and heightened states of consciousness. The experience can help individuals gain new perspectives, access repressed memories and confront underlying emotional traumas, leading to profound insights, personal growth and lasting therapeutic benefits.
Clinical research reports dramatic improvements and reduction of mental health symptoms after just one ketamine therapy session. In comparison, traditional use of antidepressants can take four to six weeks to take effect, and for some patients, they don’t work at all. While no long-term data are available, in early small studies, ketamine therapy significantly and rapidly reduced depression symptoms in about 50 to 70 percent of patients.
While the cost-effectiveness of psychedelic therapy is still being studied, early evidence suggests that it may lead to tremendous cost savings in the long term. Therapy session costs are dependent on location, provider, and type of service; however, a typical session can range from $150-$400 per session. By potentially reducing the need for long-term medication use, hospitalizations, and ongoing therapy sessions, PAT has the potential to alleviate the financial burden on individuals and healthcare systems. Health economists are calculating a $25,000 savings per individual with effective treatment.
Advancing Employee Access to Ketamine-Assisted Therapy
Enthea has opened up the opportunity for employers to expand their mental health package and offer psychedelic healthcare to their employees through its established and licensed provider network. Its plans currently cover ketamine-assisted therapy, and it is expected that Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and psilocybin-assisted therapies will be added as they become FDA-approved in the next several years.
Through practical implementation and considerations, Enthea developed protocols, guidelines and frameworks for integrating psychedelic therapy into employee wellness programs. This practical perspective is vital for the industry as it moves towards broader adoption of psychedelic therapy.
Employers can expect a positive impact on productivity from healthier employees, a reduction in medical expenses, increased employee retention, and reduced turnover. Some companies will benefit by becoming a more attractive workplace for younger workers, who tend to seek employers with more generous and innovative benefit offerings
A psychedelic approach to therapy recognizes the multidimensional nature of mental health and aims to address the underlying causes rather than merely suppressing symptoms. KAT holds the potential to revolutionize future approaches to mental health and advance the healthcare industry, leading to more personally tailored and effective treatments.
Sherry Rais
Sherry Rais, CEO and Co-Founder of Enthea, has helped dozens of startups, non-profit organizations, academic/research institutions, and small businesses raise funds, operate according to their mission and values, and implement processes that enhance their overall efficiency. Sherry believes in living and working in alignment with purpose and is currently focused on expanding access to psychedelic-assisted therapy to alleviate human suffering. Before this, Sherry consulted for over 10 years with the United Nations and World Bank, implementing cash transfer programs at the national level in over 35 countries. Sherry holds a master’s degree in public policy and administration from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and international development from McGill University. She also completed the Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research from CIIS in 2021. In addition to being Enthea's CEO, she is the Executive Director of the Boston Psychedelic Research Group and the Grants Manager for CIIS.
