Stuck in Depression and Anxiety

If you've been living with both depression and anxiety long enough that you can barely remember what it felt like before, this page is for you.

Persistent depression and anxiety that haven't responded to standard care are a recognized pattern that ketamine assisted therapy at Get Centered Wellness in Bel Air, MD is specifically designed to address. The practice is self-pay and out-of-network, provides superbills for potential insurance reimbursement, and structures KAP as a supervised, multi-step process that moves from screening through dosing through integration.

The combination is its own particular weight. Depression pulls you flat. Anxiety keeps you on edge. Together, they create a state that is exhausting and disorienting in equal measure: you're too depleted to engage with life and too activated to rest.

You might have been managing both for years, describing it as just how you are, adjusting your life around what you can and can't handle. The people around you may not fully see it. From the outside, you're functioning. From the inside, it feels like running a marathon in quicksand.

Standard approaches often address these conditions separately and at the surface level. When they share a root in how the brain is processing stress, threat, and mood, that's usually where the treatment falls short.

Antidepressants and anxiolytics target specific chemical pathways, and talk therapy works primarily through insight and behavioral change. For some people, those approaches provide real relief. For others, the depression and anxiety persist because the underlying neurological patterns haven't shifted.

When depression and anxiety have been running in the background for years despite treatment, ketamine assisted therapy offers an approach that works at the level of neuroplasticity rather than symptom management, which is often what creates movement when other methods haven't.

KAP therapy combines ketamine dosing sessions with dedicated psychotherapy and integration work, so the shifts that emerge during treatment have somewhere to land and a structure to build on.

The KAP process begins with a psychological screening appointment with Michelle Perry, PhD, who completed a rigorous one-year postgraduate training with the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. If cleared, clients proceed to a medical consultation through Journey Clinical to assess health history and eligibility.

Once approved, clients receive a personalized treatment plan and prescription, then complete one to three preparation sessions with Dr. Perry before any dosing begins. Dosing sessions last between one and three hours in a calm, supported in-person setting at 139 N Main St, STE 305 in Bel Air.

Integration sessions follow each dosing session. Dr. Perry meets with clients up to four times to review what emerged, process insights, and determine next steps. The practice serves adults from across Harford County, including Forest Hill, Fallston, and Havre de Grace, as well as clients throughout Maryland via telehealth.

Can ketamine help with both depression and anxiety at the same time?

Yes. Ketamine has been found to address both depression and anxiety, which makes it particularly relevant for people carrying both. Rather than targeting individual symptoms through separate pathways, it works at the level of neuroplasticity, supporting the brain's capacity to form new patterns of mood regulation and threat response. For people whose depression and anxiety have been co-occurring and persistent, this is often why it reaches what other treatments haven't.

I'm scared to try something new after so many things haven't worked. Is that normal?

Yes, and it makes complete sense. When you've put real effort into getting better and kept hitting walls, caution about trying something else is a reasonable protective response. The KAP process at Get Centered Wellness includes thorough psychological and medical screening before anything begins, preparation sessions to build context and readiness, and integration support afterward. Nothing happens before you and your clinician have established the groundwork together.

How is this different from just taking a new medication?

Ketamine isn't used as a standalone medication here. KAP pairs the physiological effects of ketamine with active psychotherapy before, during, and after dosing. The preparation and integration work are what allow the neuroplastic window that ketamine creates to translate into meaningful, lasting change rather than temporary relief. The combination is what distinguishes it from simply adding another prescription.

Persistent depression and anxiety that haven't moved don't have to be permanent. If what's described here sounds like where you are, you can Connect With Us to talk through what a next step might look like for you.