If you live in the Bay Area like I do, you've probably heard other parents talking about this, or maybe you've already experienced it yourself - the mom at the playground who says "have you tried this? It really helps."

There has been a boom in parents experimenting with micro-doses of psilocybin especially in counties that allow residents to grow their own mushrooms. And it's not because parents are looking for a trip or are addicted or are abusive in any way. It's because parents are stretched to their absolute limits right now.

The Appeal of the Micro-Dose

Millennial parents are balancing untenable amounts of stress right now, much of which is outside of our control and is traumatic all by itself. But on top of that, many of us are parenting while re-parenting ourselves and caring for our aging parents while our bodies undergo massive hormonal shifts. Our bodies are full of anxiety and our minds are constantly overburdened. We just need it to S.L.O.W D.O.W.N. In a culture where mothers in particular are chronically overwhelmed, emotionally stretched, and expected to function at peak capacity with minimal support, it makes sense that micro-dosing has entered the conversation. The promise of relief without requiring more effort sounds wildly appealing.

But there are two types of mothers who are quietly asking the same question: "How do I stop feeling like this?"

One Mom is micro-dosing psylocybin in her room along and hoping it will take the edge off the anxiety, the jirritability, the numbness, the rage.

The other Mom is tucked into her bed with a therapist by her side, preparing for ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) not looking to escape her life but to finally meet the deepest parts of herself that her nervous system has felt too dysregulated to tolerate on a daily basis.

From the outside, they look similar. But truly these women are having fundamentally different experiences with massive differences in outcome.

The Mom Who is Micro-dosing on Her Own

Let's be clear about moms who use psychedelics - these are not people who are trying to neglect their kids. Quite the opposite. These are moms who are reaching for whatever tools will help them to show up calm, regulated, and supportive of thier children. These are moms that are doing whatever it takes to function.

Micro-dosing can sometimes temporarily reduce anxiety, create emotional distance from overwhelming circumstances, and take the edge of chronic stress.

But when done alone, without theraputic support, it often becomes just another symptom management strategy, not a healing one.

What I see clinically is this: 

• Relief is only short lived, so now these moms are using these substances more habitually
• The nervous system doesn't actually learn safety
• The root cause (trauma, burnout, chronic stress, unmet needs) remains untouched.

It can quietly turn into the new glass of nightly wine.

The Mom who Chooses KAP

The difference between just taking Ketamine (or any psychedelic medicine) alone vs KAP is the P part - the P stands for psychotherapy, and that, is what makes all the difference. KAP is not about taking Ketamine and hoping for relief. It is the therapy combined with the gentle use of the medicine that leads to the outcome of relief and long term healing.

In KAP there is preparation before the medicine - time for you and I to meet, for me to learn about your life and what has led you to where you are today, and time for us to talk through what your medicine session will look like.

There is structured support during the medicine session - you are never taking this medicine alone. I am right by your side the every minute of the way for 3.5 hours and checking in after.

There is integration afterward (which is honestly where the real change takes place) - to help you make meaningful change in your life.

There is a clear beginning, middle, and end.

This matters because ketamine, when used within therapy, allows the brain to temporarily soften ridged patterns or stories that you have told yourself potentially for years. This distance and opening makes it possible to access and process experiences that talk therapy alone sometimes cannot reach.

Symptom Relief vs. Root Cause Healing

Here's the most important distinction I want Moms to make from all this: Micro dosing alone can treat symptoms and offer temporary relief. But KAP  can help you finally access the trauma that has been stored in your nervous system for potentially years; it can help with lowering the chronic hypervigilance of worrying what will happen to you and your children; it can lift the fog of depression and the painful memories that were never processed; it can help move you out of the shut down and numbness that may feel stuck in.

Because we are addressing the root cause, KAP is not meant to be ongoing. It is a time limited therapuetic intervention that is designed to create lasting long term shifts, not something that you need to rely on indefinitely to feel okay. This is part of what differentiates this treatment from SSRI's and from ongoing micro-dosing usage.

Why This Matters So Much For Moms

Moms are often taught either explicitly or implicitly that they should be able to tolerate enormous stress without support. So when relief finally comes from anything, it can feel tempting to cling to it. Think back to the 1950's and 60's when many mothers used "Mamas little helper" to get her through the days alone with her children and managing the household with nearly zero support from her husband or society. This burden that we carry has long historical standing.

But Millennial Moms are the cycle breaking generation. We are no longer accepting the status quo and we know that we also can't change a system by ourselves. Healing isn't about finding the right thing to take to manage the day to day. It's about helping your nervous system remember what safety feels like without needing to escape your body.

If you are a Mom who has been micro-dosing, I don't see that as a red flag. I see it as information. It tells me that you have been holding too much for too long, your nervous system is exhausted, and you are doing your best to hold it together.

The question I have for you is do you want a band aid or do you want true healing from that wound? 

If you are curious about KAP, know this: 

Ketamine as a medication has a reputation for being a party drug and a horse tranquilizer. But for the past 30 years it has also been studied and proven effective for safely helping people address treatment resistant depression and anxiety. And for Mothers who often get their symptoms brushed off and excused away as just a "normal" part of being a Mom, we are often the ones that live with these symptoms for years and decades with no support. And unfortunately we sometimes pass down that anxiety and heaviness to our children. Imagine just for a bit what it would look like, how your life and your childrens lives, could change if you didn't have to carry this weight and patch over that wound anymore? 

I think that is a better way of being.

If you want to have a chat with me about your unique experience, schedule a free consultation with me.

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