Scottsdale, Arizona
Depression treatment when medication hasn't been enough
Three medications. Maybe more. One worked for a while and then quietly stopped. Another flattened everything, including the parts you wanted to keep.
Somewhere in there the question changed. It stopped being what to try next and became whether anything was going to work at all.
That is an exhausting question to sit with, and a reasonable one.
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Somatic Experiencing® trained clinicians
Psychiatrist and psychiatric NP
Adults 18+
Careful tapering supported
Who we see
When you've tried everything
Treatment-resistant is a clinical term. It describes the medications, not you.
Many of our clients have been working toward depression relief for years. They have a history with psychiatry, some of it good, some of it disappointing, and may have been told their options are running out.
Most psychiatry asks what to try next. We're more interested in what the depression is holding in place.
That isn't a soft reframe. Persistent low mood, flatness and lost motivation are often the pattern a nervous system takes after long stretches of stress, loss or overwhelm. Another medication may work on the surface and leave that pattern untouched, which is one reason relief is only temporary.
Our approach
Psychiatry that looks underneath the symptom
We don't treat a diagnosis as a permanent trait. A symptom carries information about what your system needed when it learned to respond that way, and we would rather understand it than suppress it.
Medication can make room. It cannot do the work that fills it.
It can steady mood, reduce suffering and create room for deeper work. We prescribe the smallest amount that genuinely helps, and support careful tapering paced to your physiology rather than a calendar.
Most places
Two offices
One clinician adjusts the prescription, another works with what sits underneath it, and the two rarely compare notes. Nobody is looking at the whole thing at once.
Here
One conversation
Somatic Experiencing®, Internal Family Systems (IFS) and attachment repair live in the same treatment plan as medication management and careful tapering, held by clinicians trained in both.
Trauma work is not an add-on to the psychiatry here. It shapes what gets prescribed, and what does not.
Why this can be different
A different mechanism, not another prescription
Antidepressants act on monoamine systems and take weeks to show an effect. Ketamine works through separate pathways, and the research interest centers on neuroplasticity: the brain's capacity to form new connections.
The clinically interesting part isn't the medicine session itself. It's the period afterward, when that flexibility is heightened and new patterns may be easier to establish. That window is why preparation and integration are not optional extras here.
None of this is a guarantee, and we won't present it as one. Response varies between people. Whether it's right for you is decided by an assessment, not assumed in advance.
Browse a library of the research →Where the work happens
Preparation
Comes before any medicine session.
Medicine session
Separate pathways from antidepressants.
The window afterward
Flexibility is heightened. Integration happens here, while new patterns may be easier to establish.
What to expect
Our process
Where care begins
Psychiatric evaluation
Care begins with a full psychiatric evaluation. We review your current concerns, your medical and psychiatric history, and what did or did not help. It also covers:
- Sleep
- Nutrition
- The stress you carry now
- The experiences that taught your system to respond this way
If it becomes part of the plan
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy
A psychiatric assessment first determines whether treatment is appropriate and medically safe.
- Preparation comes before any medicine session
- A licensed psychiatric provider stays with you throughout
- Integration work continues between sessions
Ketamine and depression
Ketamine for treatment-resistant depression
For those who haven't found lasting relief, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy may offer a different path forward. We pair the medicine with preparation, therapeutic support and integration, because the medicine alone is only one part of the picture.
Explore Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy.png)
Questions
What People Ask Us First
If something you need to know isn't here, call and ask. We would rather answer it now than have you wonder.
How many ketamine sessions does treatment usually involve?
There is no fixed number. Dosing and sequence are decided per person and adjusted as treatment progresses, based on where you are rather than on a protocol applied uniformly. Your clinician will talk through what to expect for you specifically after the assessment.
Do I have to stop my antidepressant?
Not necessarily. Your current medications are reviewed as part of the evaluation, and any change is a clinical decision made with you rather than a precondition for treatment. If coming off a medication is the right call, we support careful tapering.
I have already tried TMS or another specialty treatment. Is there any point?
Possibly. They work through different mechanisms, and having tried one does not rule out the other. The evaluation is where that gets worked out, including what did and did not shift the last time.
Do you see children or teenagers?
No. We work with individuals 18 and older.
Reach out
Wherever you are in this, a conversation is a reasonable place to start.
To ask a question or book an evaluation, call us. You can also email info@traumahealingjourneys.com.
Call Us (602) 842-9919We do not provide emergency psychiatric services. If you are in crisis, call the Arizona Crisis Hotline at 1-844-534-4673, dial 911, or go to your nearest emergency room.