Standard antidepressants generally take several weeks to provide relief. Ketamine infusion therapy is delivered at a dosage that is less than you would get if you were receiving ketamine for anesthesia, but some of the side effects might seem https://sober-home.org/ similar. The good news is that they typically go away either by the time the infusion is over or within a few hours. It is thought that ketamine infusions work by inducing the production of glutamate, a neurotransmitter in the brain.
With the intravenous “all at once” method, the patient feels dissociation for 5-15 minutes and experiences about a minute incremental return to their previous state. A benefit of using the IV method is that it can also be delivered gradually via the drip method. This has the advantage of being able to stop the infusion at any time (Gorman, I., Nielson, E., & Paleos, C., 2021). A small study that appeared in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that subjects who suffered anxiety responded positively to weekly doses of ketamine over a three-month period. The patients improved in their function in both social and professional areas of life.
But it’s a safe bet that ketamine offers some bang for your buck—if by “bang” you mean fairly stable relief from mental anguish. There has been a marked increase in exposure and interest for this novel therapy, as you can see in the Google Trends chart here. Ketamine has been in a state of heightened media frenzy ever since the FDA approved the ketamine-derived nasal spray Spravato for treatment-resistant depression in March of 2019.
Anyone looking into KAP should keep this in mind and discuss a potential plan with their therapist if necessary. During a typical KAP session—prefaced by thorough evaluation and discussions with the provider—a patient will usually lie down in a quiet room and take the prescribed dose of ketamine. Providers might put on soft music or have patients wear an eye mask to keep the environment as relaxed as possible. Ketamine can decrease sensitivity to pain, and depending on dosage, route of administration, etc., it can create hypnotic, dream-like, or even fully dissociative trance states for a person. Ketamine infusion therapy has been hailed as a transformative treatment because of its high rate of response.
However, Kate Daly MD, the Medical Director of All Points North, notes that ketamine is most effective for anxiety when it’s paired with therapy. Therapy can help with addressing the underlying causes of anxiety while ketamine simply helps to tone down the mental and physical symptoms. Glutamate also supports neuroplasticity, or your brain’s ability to adapt and change with every new experience you have.
Ketamine itself is not FDA-approved to treat depression, but a derivative of ketamine, esketamine, is. The drug is delivered by nasal spray and is designed to be administered alongside a traditional antidepressant. It was approved specifically for treatment-resistant depression, or depression that has failed to respond to other antidepressant medications. A study that appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that repeated doses of ketamine can help reduce the symptoms of people who suffer from PTSD. Further research must be done to assess ketamine’s efficacy over longer periods of time. Dr. Allie Sharma, a Cornell-trained board-certified Adult Psychiatrist, is the chief medical officer and co-founder of Being Health, a new mental health practice that takes an integrated approach to mental health care.
In one study, 85% of patients experienced a remission in their depressive symptoms (defined as at least a 50% reduction in symptoms). Patients relapsed (some symptoms returned) on an average of 19 days after, but some did not relapse for more than three months. For people with the certain mental health concerns mentioned above, ketamine therapy is generally considered safe and effective when practiced under the care of a licensed therapist or doctor. In one of the early published reports of this from 2000, the authors highlighted that an IV dose of ketamine rapidly reduced symptoms of major depression within 72 hours. Randomized controlled trials following that finding found that 60 to 70 percent of people with treatment-resistant depression responded to ketamine, the authors say.
It may be too soon to tell whether the risk of addiction or tolerance outweighs the possible benefits. It’s important to note, though, that some recommendations suggest it may not be safe for people who have a history of substance abuse. “I think it’s probably less addictive than opioids, but it’s not without its risks,” says Shatzberg, who is the director of Stanford University’s Mood Disorders Center.
Ketamine could be fatal for people who abuse alcohol or if you take it while you’re drunk. Whichever method you’re considering, by far, the most important part of the process is the role played by a mental health professional. Whether this is a psychiatrist, therapist, or integration coach, make sure this is an individual you feel safe around. There are also lozenges and Spravato, the nasal spray which uses esketamine, to consider.
Ketamine, an FDA approved anesthetic agent, is being used off-label to treat a variety of mental health issues. Its rapid delivery system means depression symptoms can ease within several hours. Esketamine is administered as a squirt in each nostril, followed by a two-hour monitoring period. Standard dosing involves taking the medication twice a week for about four weeks, then switching to once a week for another four weeks and then tapering off over time. Research has shown that esketamine can significantly reduce depression symptoms — relief that can last weeks after treatment ends.
In the past few years, ketamine has generated much research on its benefits in treating certain mental health conditions. But there is still much more to learn about how ketamine works, how it could be dosed, and what long-term effects it may have on the body. According to Eriksson, IV therapy is one of the most widely studied forms of ketamine — in part because the treatment professional has more control over the dosage during treatment. However, Spravato nasal spray remains the only FDA-approved ketamine therapy, to date. Treatment-resistant depression refers to depression symptoms that don’t respond to two or more types of antidepressant medication. Estimates suggest up to 30% of people with major depression have treatment-resistant depression.
For the past 20 years, researchers at top scientific institutions and universities have researched the efficacy of ketamine in the treatment of mental health disorders and shown positive results. During the past 20 years, ketamine has been proven to be effective as an off-label treatment for a variety of mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicidality. It has been shown to be particularly effective for people suffering from treatment-resistant mental health disorders—those patients who have tried many medications and treatments and still do not get well. In a 2022 study, people with depression and thoughts of suicide received six IV ketamine infusions at three separate clinics over 21 days. Within 6 weeks of starting treatment, 20% of people with depression were considered “in remission,” meaning their depression symptoms had greatly improved, and 50% of people who had thoughts of suicide no longer experienced them.
Those who received only ketamine doses experienced greater improvements in their depression — but when the placebo group received their dose of ketamine, they reported a similar level of improvement. Ketamine, a drug available in intravenous (IV) and nasal spray (esketamine) forms, is being actively studied for TRD treatment. Both ketamine and esketamine are given in a doctor’s office or a clinic, and each is typically used alongside another antidepressant. There are various ways ketamine can be given (IV, orally, nasally), yet clearly established protocols and standards are not available and there is variability in how clinics provide ketamine therapy. It’s important that the clinic you go to, or the company you use, screens your physical and psychological health prior to treatment to determine if it’s appropriate for you. In addition, though ketamine can be given with or without psychotherapy, experts say that a combination of ketamine and therapy, called ketamine-assisted therapy, provides the greatest benefits.
Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today. Wendy Boring-Bray is a Doctor of Behavioral Health and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor specializing in working with individuals that are motivated to make changes in their lives. Because our brains are wired to try to protect us, the root of these issues can often be shoved down out of our reach, leaving us to deal with the aftermath. Unpleasant thoughts, painful memories, stubborn beliefs about ourselves and the world?
The dissociative effects are one reason ketamine is popular as a “club drug” for recreational use. Patients generally need to have some “downtime” to return from their ketamine experience and process their thoughts and realizations in solitude and without outside influence. Trying to talk with a patient during their ketamine experience can be a somewhat futile effort. To find optimal benefit and transformation from ketamine, a conversation is usually best had at a later date. One of the things that makes this process so difficult is when the patient cannot participate or is resistant to authentically participating.
PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts. Ketamine can also produce an extensive array of other symptoms that affect many parts of the body, but they are less common. Ketamine can produce hallucinations similarly to other drugs such as LSD and PCP, or angel dust. Rebecca Strong is a Boston-based freelance writer covering health and wellness, fitness, food, lifestyle, and beauty. Her work has also appeared in Insider, Bustle, StyleCaster, Eat This Not That, AskMen, and Elite Daily. Long-term ketamine use has been linked to bladder dysfunction and memory loss.
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic drug that has long been used for anesthesia. Due to numerous studies over the last two decades, ketamine has emerged as a potential treatment for various mental health disorders, for example, treatment resistant depression, anxiety, PTSD, and alcohol use disorder. It is only FDA approved as esketamine (similar to ketamine) for treatment-resistant depression and depression with suicidality, although ketamine is prescribed off label to treat other psychiatric disorders.
It’s a bold statement from a woman in her 50s who had felt powerless to depression and anxiety since childhood. Jeff Winograd, who’s lived with depression for 25 years, says ketamine treatment saved his life. The study also found that the different ways that ketamine affects https://sober-home.org/types-of-drug-addictions/ the brain can be related to patterns of gene expression, a finding that might one day help predict who is most likely to respond to ketamine treatment. Arguably the most severe depressive disorder, major depression with psychotic features often goes unrecognized.
In ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, the patient may feel some degree of an altered mindset, but the dose is kept low enough so that they can still articulate their ideas and participate in intentional self-reflection. The ketamine may be given in methods ranging from intramuscular injections to oral lozenges to nasal spray to IV. You can’t read about mental health treatment right now without reading something about ketamine or psychedelics—but you may wonder what part of the experience makes it so effective. You can also look for ketamine therapy on your own, but you’ll want to be extra cautious if you go this route.
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