He Runs Ketamine and TMS — but Wants You on Less Medication

Most of the guests on this show built private practices and never looked back. Ben Egbers is the outlier. He built one in rural Montana, and then he walked away from it. Ben came to psychiatry the long way. A psychology and German degree in 2000. Years as a case manager, then teaching English in Europe. An avalanche in the backcountry that he barely survived, and that he dug his best friend out of. A career in pharma he hated, a $60,000 pay cut to go back to bedside psych nursing, and his own recovery from alcohol use disorder — this month he's ten years sober. He didn't finish his nursing doctorate until 2021. Today he runs some of the most intensive treatments in the field, deep TMS and ketamine, while holding a belief that sounds almost backwards: the goal is the least medication a person needs, not the most. We get into all of it. Why he opened a private practice and then let it go (the billing alone will make you wince). How he partners with therapists in a way that has them telling him "you're the first psychiatric provider who ever called me." What ten years of sobriety taught him about who's actually ready for help. And why he's now stepping back from the interventional work to train in psychodynamic therapy and do something that feels more like him. If you've ever felt like an outlier in this field, or like the "right" path just wasn't fitting, this one's for you. Go listen. Then tell me which part landed. — Lindsay CHAPTERS 00:00 The cold open 01:09 Meet Ben Egbers 02:40 From a psychology & German degree to psych NP 03:30 The book that hooked him: "An Unquiet Mind" 05:10 Community mental health, then a pivot to Europe 08:30 The avalanche that changed his path 09:55 Hating med-surg and pharma — the 2am misery 12:50 A $60K pay cut back to bedside psych nursing 14:20 Why he's the "outlier": walking away from private practice 21:00 Networking with therapists (and picking up the phone) 24:50 What he hated most: the billing 25:40 Ten years sober: his recovery story 30:40 Being a provider in recovery, and who's ready for help 34:00 Psychodynamics 101: the unconscious and transference 39:40 The fellowship, and training toward therapy 47:10 What "No Prior Auth" means to him CONNECT WITH BEN Axis Integrated Mental Health — Colorado (deep TMS, ketamine) | https://axismh.com/ LISTEN TO NO PRIOR AUTH 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2xQMQAfCsq3OrVz3RTndA80gfFEFOsez 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1893233469 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5tNbJqeMERnglfTHedOhym 🌐 Website: https://psychnpfellowship.com/podcast/ 👥 Community: https://www.skool.com/psych #PsychNP #PMHNP #InterventionalPsychiatry #Ketamine #TMS #Recovery #Sobriety #Psychodynamic #MentalHealth