Set and Setting: Designing Rooms for Ketamine, TMS and New Mental Health Therapies

Mental health care is changing fast. Alongside talk therapy and daily medication, clinics now offer ketamine and esketamine treatments, deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), hyperbaric oxygen and other newer approaches. Several of the clinics I photograph were built around these treatments, and they share one thing: the room has become part of the therapy conversation.

An old idea for new treatments

In the 1950s and 60s, researchers studying psychedelic medicines noticed that outcomes varied enormously depending on two things: the person’s mindset going in, and the environment around them. That became known as set and setting. As psychologist Ingmar Gorman explains, it remains one of the most important ideas in the field, and it now shapes how ketamine and psychedelic-assisted therapy rooms are designed.

The recommendations sound more like a living room than a clinic: soft and adjustable lighting, comfortable furniture, calming artwork and carefully chosen music.

Patients spend real time in these rooms

Newer treatments often ask people to stay. For esketamine, sold as Spravato, the FDA’s safety program requires patients to be monitored by a healthcare provider for at least two hours after each dose, in a medically supervised setting (Spravato REMS). TMS is delivered in repeated sessions, often several times a week for a number of weeks. Ketamine-assisted therapy sessions can take an hour or more.

That is a long time to spend somewhere that feels like a waiting room. So clinics are designing these spaces with the same care a hotel puts into a suite.

What a well-designed treatment room includes

• Light you can change. Dimmable lamps and shades, so a session can start bright and settle down.
• A chair you can rest in. Recliners or deep lounge seating, with blankets and pillows within reach.
• Quiet. Sound control between rooms and a place for headphones and music.
• Something to look at. A window, a plant or art with a calm subject.
• Privacy and safety together. A room that feels private while staying easy for the medical team to monitor.

Photographing rooms built for vulnerable moments

When I photographed All Points North in Dallas-Fort Worth, the shot list included the deep TMS and hyperbaric oxygen rooms. Equipment like that can look intimidating in a photo. With a volunteer seated in each and the light kept soft and even, the images show something closer to the truth: a calm room where a person is cared for.

At Rocky Mountain Mind and Body and PLUS in Boulder, the approach was the same. Hold the warm tones the designers chose, keep the compositions quiet, and let details like a lamp, a throw or a plant carry the feeling of the room. For a nervous first-time patient, those photographs are often the first step toward booking.

Read the full stories behind All Points North Dallas-Fort Worth and our other healthcare photography.

This article is about design and photography. It is not medical advice. If you are considering any of these treatments, talk with a licensed provider about whether they are right for you.