David Dansky, MD, is an internal and emergency medicine physician with 40 years of experience in acute and emergency care. After training with the Ketamine Training Center in 2019, he began providing ketamine therapy at Monterey Integrated Therapies, supporting both physical and psychological healing. Dr. Dansky also lectures at conferences and experiential workshops on the medical and practical aspects of ketamine therapy.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [3:16] David Dansky, MD, shares how his ER experience led him to focus on ketamine therapy
- [5:05] Why ketamine’s rapid effects on depression challenged conventional psychiatric treatment models
- [7:35] How ketamine can shift trauma, dissociation, and self-perception
- [9:28] Common misconceptions about ketamine and its role in psychedelic medicine
- [11:43] Combining ketamine with psychotherapy, EMDR, and trauma work
- [16:23] What many people misunderstand about chronic pain
- [19:29] How ketamine works with pain pathways in the nervous system
- [26:48] Dr. Dansky talks about balancing ketamine’s benefits with dependency and safety concerns
- [31:30] Ketamine’s role in softening the body’s trauma defenses
- [39:40] Ketamine delivery methods for treating chronic pain
In this episode…
Chronic pain can reshape a person’s life, narrowing their focus, limiting their choices, and creating a cycle of fear, inflammation, and exhaustion. When traditional treatments only offer partial relief, what else can help people alleviate their pain and begin to feel hopeful again?
With decades of experience using ketamine in acute care settings, Dr. David Dansky’s answer is to approach pain through both the body and the nervous system. Ketamine can interrupt pain signals, create distance from overwhelming sensations, and support therapeutic work around trauma, anxiety, and depression. Dr. Dansky emphasizes the importance of individualized dosing, safety conversations, and distinguishing dependency from addiction when weighing risks and benefits. For chronic pain patients, he advises working with a knowledgeable provider, considering routes such as lozenges, nasal spray, or topical creams, and focusing on how treatment improves function, hope, and quality of life.
In this episode of Living Medicine, Dr. Sandy Newes sits down with internal and emergency medicine physician David Dansky, MD, to discuss ketamine therapy for chronic pain. He discusses what many people misunderstand about chronic pain, how ketamine works with pain pathways, and how combining ketamine with psychotherapy can support deeper healing.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- David Dansky, MD: Montage Health profile | Menla profile | Email | Phone number: (831) 241-2254
Quotable Moments:
- “How could people get better in a day? How could people get better in an hour?”
- “This drug can do strange things awfully quickly.”
- “What you are doing is flooding the brain with other information from all the other fingers.”
- “That’s what ketamine does. It blocks a lot of the pain messages.”
- “It really does give them hope in a very pragmatic way.”
Action Steps:
- Use ketamine as part of a thoughtful care plan: Working with a knowledgeable provider can help patients explore safe, individualized options for chronic pain, depression, anxiety, or trauma.
- Consider the body and nervous system together: Chronic pain is often more complex than an isolated injury, so treatment should address pain pathways, inflammation, trauma, and emotional distress.
- Pair ketamine with psychotherapy when appropriate: Adding therapy, EMDR, or trauma-focused work can help patients process difficult material while ketamine creates more space and flexibility.
- Discuss risks, benefits, and function honestly: Providers and patients should distinguish dependency from addiction and evaluate whether treatment improves safety, relationships, work, and quality of life.
- Explore different ketamine delivery methods: Lozenges, nasal spray, and topical creams may each serve different needs, especially for patients managing ongoing or breakthrough pain.
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by the Living Medicine Institute.
LMI is a training, resource, and membership program educating providers about the legal and safe use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
To learn more or participate, visit http://livingmedicineinstitute.rise25media.com.
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