PTSD | Dr. Zeus

  
  Ketamine Therapy
  for PTSD | Trauma | Childhood Trauma
  in Oakland & Berkeley

PTSD | Trauma

A stressful experience stays imprinted in your mind, intruding on the present and continuing to stress you.
You can’t control it, bad memories keep popping up.
Your emotions are often negative — you have too much fear, anger or shame.
You develop negative beliefs — about yourself, other people, and the world.
You are easily startled, irritable, impatient, hyper-vigilant, and often lashing out.
You have trouble sleeping.
You feel detached from your emotions or your body; things seem distant and unreal.
Living with post-traumatic stress can feel overwhelming, especially when traditional approaches fail to provide relief.

Treatment starts where you are. You are in control and you decide what to talk about. We proceed at your pace.

We gently recall traumatic experiences and create a new experience that will rewire your nervous system, allowing you to feel safe, calm, and connected.

Treatment focuses on changing the way your nervous system became wired by traumatic experiences.

All humans learn from experience. Using ketamine this way, as a catalyst for learning, taps into your innate ability to heal and grow — getting to the root of the problem and reprogramming subconscious responses.

How does Dr. Zeus treat PTSD | Trauma?

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Proven Results

Ketamine therapy decreases your brain’s response to trauma

Published research

People with PTSD were guided to recall a traumatic memory, then given an injection of either ketamine or midazolam (a sedative, like Xanax or alcohol). Images of the amygdala (where our fear response is stored) were taken before treatment, 7 days after, and 30 days later. People who got a traditional sedative developed increased‍ amygdala reactivity, whereas people who got ketamine had decreased‍ amygdala reactivity after treatment.

Line graph showing amygdala response to trauma vs. neutral stimuli for two groups, ketamine and midazolam, with data points before treatment, after treatment, and 30 days later. An inset image of a brain highlighting the amygdala.

In other words, while they may feel better in the short run, traditional medications may lead people to develop increased fear in the long run, while guided ketamine therapy allows people to reprogram and decrease their fear response.

Published research - Duek et al, 2023
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01606-3

Dr. Zeus results

The next graph shows results for a patient with childhood trauma who came into treatment with a very high score of 71/80 on the PCL-5 PTSD severity scale. He was taking four traditional psychiatric medications!

Line graph showing scores on a PTSD checklist from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2026, with scores decreasing from 71 in 2023 to 19 in 2026. Two points highlighted: one in November 2023 with a score of 71, and another in January 2026 with a score of 19.

PTSD severity scores quickly went down with ketamine therapy. After completing treatment, his PTSD scores continued to improve and he was able to stop taking three of his daily psychiatric medications. Two years later his score on the PCL-5 was just 19/80, so he no longer has PTSD.