What Can Ketamine Do For Your Mental Health? A Whole Lot, It Turns Out

With mental wellness attracting more focus every year, you might have heard about ketamine therapy. Maybe you have a friend or family member who has received ketamine therapy, or is considering it. Maybe you’ve seen ads and billboards for ketamine clinics, and wondered what the fuss is all about. Or maybe you’ve had disappointing or satisfying experiences with depression treatments, and you’ve decided to look into what ketamine can do for you.

Millions of Americans struggle to deal with treatment-resistant depression, defined as a depressive disorder that doesn’t respond to traditional antidepressants, like SSRIs. Depression is hard enough, but when your depression doesn’t improve with medication, it can strike an even more devastating blow to your quality of life, leaving you unable to function and feeling hopeless.

Ketamine therapy was developed to solve the riddle of treatment-resistant depression, and by all measurements, it looks like a real success story. Let’s talk a little bit about ketamine, how it’s used, and the positive effects reported by ketamine patients.

What’s Ketamine?

Ketamine was originally developed in the late 1950s as a pediatric anesthetic. Over time, it came into common use in veterinary medicine as well. It wasn’t until the early 2000s, decades later, that its efficacy as a psychiatric treatment was confirmed amidst rising rates of aggressive, treatment-resistant depression. Thomas Insel, formerly director of the National Institute for Mental Health, described ketamine as “the most important breakthrough in antidepressant treatment in decades.” The NIMH itself has published literature regarding ketamine warmly, calling it a “new hope for treatment-resistant depression.”

Ketamine Therapy

These days, legitimate ketamine clinics are a relatively common sight, at least more so than in the past. These clinics are staffed by mental health professionals, and ketamine therapy sessions are administered by technicians trained in the safe and effective delivery of the drug. Clinic staff usually have educational backgrounds in psychology or neuroscience.

The preferred method of ketamine delivery is through intravenous injection, sometimes referred to as an infusion. This is typically done in a comfortable setting to encourage relaxation. Ketamine technicians have a two-part job: they administer the drug itself, in a low subanesthetic dose over an hour-long period, and they also coach new or inexperienced patients through the experience, which can sometimes be stressful or anxiety-inducing. Intravenous ketamine therapy is always done onsite at a ketamine clinic, and a full ketamine treatment course comprises six treatments over the course of two or three weeks.

Ketamine is also available as a nasal spray for those uncomfortable with intravenous delivery. This is actually a variant of ketamine, esketamine, also known by its brand name, Spravato.

Effects of Ketamine

Ketamine is a fast-acting depression treatment. Ketamine therapy patients have reported a nearly instantaneous feeling of relief after their first few therapy sessions. That’s not the case with typical antidepressants, like SSRIs, which only take effect after a substantial amount of the drug has accumulated in the body, and that’s part of why ketamine therapy has quickly become so desirable. Many patients have reported remission of depression symptoms upon completion of a full ketamine therapy course. Still, it’s common for patients to return for booster sessions after the initial course, during what is referred to as a maintenance period. 

Unlike with antidepressants, depression patients report few or no negative side effects from ketamine treatment, and what side effects are experienced are usually minor, short-term, and easily managed, unlike the long-lasting and sometimes severe side effects commonly reported by antidepressant users such as digestive issues, sexual disfunction, sleep disorders, increased appetite, and weight gain. In general, ketamine therapy can leave patients feeling foggy, disoriented, and dissociated, and for that reason, patients are not allowed to operate their own vehicles following treatment sessions, and are required to arrange a ride home.

Dr. Nima Fahimian, medical director of TMS & Brain Health, asserts ketamine treatment is most successful when used as a component in a complete holistic depression treatment. Ketamine therapy is done alongside cognitive behavioral therapy or dialectical behavioral therapy, depending on the specific patient scenario. These personalized treatment plans are more successful than generic ketamine therapy, with higher rates of remission reported.

If you’re feeling defeated by your treatment-resistant depression, ketamine therapy might be your ticket to improved mental health, and the higher quality of life that comes with it.