The ketamine-fueled ‘psychedelic slumber parties’ that get tech execs back on track
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This week WIRED Start speaks to the women who believe that stuffed animals, rose petals, and injections of an Elon Musk–approved dissociative drug can help Silicon Valley leaders out of a rut.
Ketamine is helpful for getting one out of the negative frame of mind,” Elon Musk told an interviewer last year. The unelected man currently gutting US federal programs isn’t the only one who thinks so. Ketamine, approved decades ago as a surgical anesthetic and long used as a party drug, is the off-label mental-health treatment of the moment. It induces a “trancelike” state of “sensory isolation,” researchers say, and may temporarily boost the brain’s neuroplasticity—which, in theory, makes mental ruts easier to escape. At the same time, ketamine abuse can be deadly, and the drug remains illegal to use without a prescription. (Musk says he has one from “an actual, real doctor.”)
WIRED spoke to the cofounders of an organization that offers ketamine-assisted leadership coaching in the San Francisco Bay Area. The two speakers are identified by pseudonyms, which they selected for themselves. Aria Stone has a doctorate in psychology. Shuang Shuang is a spiritual coach. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Shuang Shuang: We fast-track coaching by really locking it in with the psychedelics. We deliver it to you on a cellular level.
Aria Stone: With ketamine, there’s a 24- to 48-hour window of optimization, when people’s brains are literally more neuroplastic, which is why this is a multiday experience.
SS: We call it an off-site, not a retreat, because we’re not retreating from anything. We don’t do them big—nine or 10 clients—partially due to the importance of confidentiality. Our clientele is primarily CEOs of Fortune 100 companies, CFOs, C-level founders of startups. All of them are in a pressure cooker.
AS: Those are the kind of leaders that come—people who have achieved so much in their life, and they’re like, “OK, what’s the next horizon? Because I’ve checked pretty much every box.”
SS: Here are all the loneliest people. They have to lead and go through so many things by themselves. They can come and see that they’re not alone, and let go of the burden of being so protected all the time. They just want to be people. To screen clients, we ask about their medical and psychological background, whether they currently work with a therapist, and whether they’ve participated in a group program before. We would slow down around accepting someone with a significant trauma history, someone who is actively suicidal or has a history of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, the latter of which can be contraindicated with ketamine.
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8moVery helpful.
Owner and Psychotherapist at Starks Therapy Group
8moIt’s been so disheartening to see the way Elon’s actions are being blamed on his use of ketamine. I am a licensed therapist with an expertise in Ketamine Therapy. When used safely, Ketamine can be lifesaving for those who are suicidal, a huge avenue toward relief for folks with PTSD and even a powerful tool for growth and development for those who are stuck and seeking clarity. The ketamine may be making Elon’s behavior worse, but as all psychedelics are truly non specific amplifiers, it’s just making his broken worldview all the more obvious.
Emmy Award Winning Creative Director
8moCara Armes
AI, SEO, Website Management & MUSICIAN-in-TRAINING
8moWhat about workers?
Enterprise User Experience Designer
8moKetamine is an insanely strong dissassociative. It is not meant for every day use. It’s meant to treat severe depression for people who suffer from long term treatment resistant depression and only in combination with other therapies. That clown can flaunt his abuse of the drug all he wants, and I don’t judge people who do that. But like we have seen he is not sober he is drunk on power high on ketamine and he can’t handle it. Abuse of any drug severely impaires one’s judgement. Not to say his judgement was great prior. But as I’ve told other billionaires who just want people to like them. You can’t buy cool. He can hire an irresponsible doctor to help him abuse ketamine. Won’t end well. Not before he continues to destroy the county.