Viljar Veede

Dr. Viljar Veede is a psychiatrist working in a private clinic Minu Kliinik and in North Estonia Medical Centre Foundation (Tallinn, Estonia). He was a founder and a former manager of the first ketamine infusion treatment service for psychiatric indications in Estonia. He is certified in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and is pioneering the implementation of psychedelic-assisted therapies in Estonia using the KAP method. He is a founding member of the local Foundation for Therapeutic Advancement and Innovation with Psychedelics (SA TAIP) and the foundation’s council chairman.

Paving the way for psychedelic-assisted therapies with ketamine: A clinician’s perspective

While low-dose ketamine infusions have been widely used in psychiatric treatment for several decades, its psychedelic (dissociative) properties have previously been largely considered unwanted side effects by the traditional biomedical approach. With the development of our understanding of psychedelics, this view is increasingly seen as outdated, and the psychedelic experience is emerging as one of the key elements in ketamine’s therapeutic mechanism. Currently, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) stands at the forefront of legally and widely available psychedelic therapies and the practice of KAP is laying the foundation for a growing body of practitioners who are adopting the principles of psychedelic psychotherapy. However, integrating this kind of treatment modality into the existing general psychiatric paradigm and practice presents both unique benefits and challenges. This presentation summarizes the observations of a KAP practitioner pioneering the use of the ketamine psychedelic therapy modality in Estonia, drawing relevant parallels from the experiences of other practitioners and researchers in the field, and outlining perspectives for future developments.