TITLE
Letting go: Patient experiences on control, context, and care in ketamine treatment for depression.

ABSTRACT
This will discuss a novel qualitative analysis of experiences of people given standalone ketamine in the treatment of depression in the Netherlands.

BIOGRAPHY
Joost is a philosopher and PhD candidate based at the Department of Psychiatry (UMCG) where he conducts qualitative research into the experiences of patients and therapists involved in treatments with different psychedelics (ketamine, MDMA, psilocybin) for severe mental disorders. His aim is to deepen our understanding of the therapeutic mechanisms involved and how set, setting, therapy, and other contextual factors influence these treatments.He is also executive director of the OPEN Foundation.

This Amsterdam-based non-profit has been advocating psychedelic research and therapies since 2007, where Joost organizes the biannual Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research. ICPR is Europe’s longest-running conference on psychedelics, focusing on high-quality scientific research, therapeutic innovations, and critical discussions around ethics, policy, industry boom, and more. Underlying all his work is a deep-seated belief in the scientifically grounded, responsible and ethical integration of psychedelics that respects the multiplicity of other, non-medical approaches.