Ketamine-Assisted Therapy for PMDD
Restoring Stability Across Your Cycle
Serving clients virtually in California and Washington and locally in Berkeley and Marin
Ketamine Therapy for PMDD in California & Washington: Targeted Support for Cycle-Related Mood Shifts
Are you living with the intense emotional and physical shifts of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)? For many, PMDD can feel like losing access to yourself for up to two weeks each month — sudden despair, rage, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, relational strain, and a painful sense of disconnection from your own worth.
If traditional treatments haven’t provided lasting relief, you are not alone. PMDD is complex, and many people find that medication and therapy alone does not address the deeper emotional and nervous system patterns that surface during the luteal phase. At Solthera Therapy, I offer Luteal-phase Ketamine-Assisted Therapy for PMDD virtually in California and Washington, and locally in Marin and Berkeley.
Ketamine creates a temporary window of neuroplasticity — a period when the brain becomes more flexible and old emotional patterns can soften. Within a guided therapeutic container, this window can allow you to access and heal the parts of you that feel overwhelmed, ashamed, unworthy, or destabilized during your cycle.
Rather than simply managing symptoms, this work supports deeper regulation, self-understanding, and a more compassionate relationship with yourself — especially during the most challenging phase of your cycle.
Luteal-Phase Ketamine-Assisted Therapy for PMDD/PME
I offer cycle-timed Ketamine-Assisted Therapy for individuals experiencing hormone-related mental health challenges, including PMDD, PME, and severe luteal-phase mood symptoms. Ketamine has demonstrated antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects and may improve symptoms due to hormonal shifts during the luteal phase.
We intentionally time a ketamine lozenge session during the luteal phase of your cycle each month to support the brain and nervous system when symptoms are most intense. Ketamine can help reduce emotional intensity and support nervous system regulation, offering relief to the PMDD part that many people experience as taking over during this phase.
In sessions, I combine ketamine-assisted therapy with distress tolerance and nervous-system regulation, tailored to your needs, using approaches like IFS, DBT, and somatic psychotherapy. The goal isn’t to “push through the luteal phase.” The goal is to help your system experience: “I can be with myself during this phase—and I have ways through.”
Benefits of KAP for PMDD:
KAP can be especially supportive if your luteal phase brings intense emotional distress and dysregulation, making it difficult to maintain daily functioning:
• Stabilizing Luteal-Phase Mood Shifts: Supports regulation during the premenstrual phase, helping soften depressive crashes, anxiety spikes, irritability, and emotional reactivity.
• Relief from Intrusive & Extreme Thought Patterns: May reduce rigid negative thinking, catastrophic beliefs, suicidal ideation, and sudden bursts of old thought patterns.
• Working with Both Shame and Rage: Creates space to compassionately engage the parts that turn inward in self-criticism as well as the parts that turn outward in anger, blame, or projection.
• Nervous System Recalibration: Helps calm heightened stress responses that can manifest as fight-or-flight, defensiveness, or sudden relational rupture.
• Reducing Projection & Relational Distortion: Supports the ability to pause before reacting, creating space between hormonal activation and interpersonal conflict.
• Healing the “PMDD Part”: Within an IFS-informed framework, allows you to build a relationship with the PMDD part that emerges during luteal phase rather than fearing or suppressing it.
• Restoring Continuity of Identity: Reduces the “two different people” feeling by strengthening a stable sense of self across hormonal shifts.
• Building Cycle-to-Cycle Resilience: Over time, supports increased self-trust, emotional steadiness, and confidence navigating your menstrual cycle.
Who is a Good Candidate for KAP?
• Struggle with PMDD or other hormone-related mood shifts such as PME, postpartum depression, or perimenopause.
• Experience severe luteal-phase symptoms, including depression, anxiety, irritability, rage, suicide ideation, or intrusive thoughts.
• Have tried SSRIs, birth control, or other hormonal treatments with little or no benefit.
• Feel stuck in therapy or are not receiving PMDD-specific support.
• Are seeking targeted support during the luteal phase when symptoms are most intense.
FAQs
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KAP blends the neuroplasticity-enhancing effects of ketamine with somatic and mindfulness-based psychotherapy. It supports deep emotional healing by helping you reconnect with your body, release trauma, and access your innate wholeness.
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Your journey begins with a 50 min intake session to assess appropriateness for KAP, clarify treatment goals, and determine if its a good fit. You’ll then meet with the prescribing medical provider for a medical consultation. Once you are medically cleared for KAP, we can begin preparation sessions before your first ketamine lozenge session.
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You’ll take a lozenge in a safe, supportive setting while lying down with an eye mask and music. I’ll be present the entire time, supporting you somatically and relationally.
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Everyone’s healing path is unique. You are required to commit to a minimum of 3 preparation sessions, 3 ketamine lozenge sessions, and 3 integration session. I recommend 6 ketamine sessions for severe PMDD symptoms.
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KAP may be helpful if you are treatment resistant to other medications or are looking for symptom relief during the luteal phase. During the medical consultation the medical prescriber will determine if KAP is an appropriate treatment for you.
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I am currently out-of-network and do not bill insurance directly. However, I can provide superbills for you to submit to your insurance for potential reimbursement.
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Ketamine sessions are held in-person in Berkeley, CA or virtually throughout California and Washington. Preparation and integration sessions are held via telehealth.
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Please refer to the KAP Fees & Policies page.
Why Work With Me
Hi, I’m Kiri, and like you, I live with PMDD
I understand personally how intense, cyclical, and isolating PMDD can be, and my own search for relief led me to study it deeply—both personally and professionally—in response to the limited trauma-informed support available.
As a Ketamine-Assisted Therapist, I began to notice a pattern: clients experiencing hormone-related mood shifts — including PMDD, PME, postpartum depression, and perimenopause — often experienced more rapid symptom relief when their ketamine sessions were intentionally timed during the luteal phase.
Within these sessions, something important would emerge. The part of them that carries the rage, despair, or hopelessness during the luteal phase was suddenly accessible — able to speak clearly about its deepest wounds, unmet needs, and protective strategies. Rather than being overwhelmed by that part, we could work directly with it.
Timing the ketamine session during PMDD activation allowed us to understand what the luteal phase was amplifying and what deeper healing was asking to be addressed.
This insight has shaped my clinical focus. I am deeply committed to helping people with PMDD find steadiness, clarity, and a more compassionate relationship with themselves across their cycle.
The Luteal-Phase KAP Protocol:
Step 1: Schedule an intro call so we can see if working together is a good fit.
Step 2: Schedule a medical consultation to be cleared medically for KAP.
Step 3: Preparation Sessions
-We’ll meet weekly for a minimum of 3 preparation sessions (50 minutes telehealth). During this time we’ll clarify goals, customize a treatment plan, prepare for your experience, practice coping skills, and do small bodies of therapeutic work to prepare your for the medicine sessions.
Step 4: Ketamine Medicine Sessions
-KAP sessions are 2-3 hours long scheduled during the luteal phase of your menstrual cycle. You will do a ketamine lozenge session once a month during the luteal phase for 3-6 months to support long-lasting change and relief from symptoms. These sessions can be held in-person in my office in Berkeley, CA or via telehealth.
Step 5: Integration Sessions
-A few days after each medicine session we will meet virtually for an integration session (50 minutes telehealth) to unpack and extract the meaning making and insight of your medicine experience.
Ready to Dive In ?
I offer a free 20-minute consultation to learn more about my approach and services, and see if its a good fit.