Ketamine has been used in the medical field for decades, but is only recently becoming popular for a new reason — as a mental health treatment. Originally used as an anesthetic for soldiers during the Vietnam war in the 1960s, ketamine is still used in many hospitals today to induce anesthesia while preserving airway reflexes and breathing. It is also used for pain management and acute pain treatment in emergency settings or during surgery, and is the most common pediatric and veterinary anesthetic around the world due to its safety profile. Although ketamine is widely prevalent in medical set ..read more

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS, is a unique mental health treatment that often used to treat depression — especially cases of depression that are resistant other forms of treatment. During TMS, electromagnetic waves are transmitted through the scalp and into the cortex. This stimulates neurons in targeted areas of the brain non-invasively. The majority of research on TMS focuses on major depressive disorder, however evidence is growing for TMS as an effective treatment for bipolar disorder, OCD, schizophrenia, and ADHD. In 2014, researchers conducted a literature review and meta-ana ..read more

A new medication is hitting the market and hitting it hard: ketamine. You may have recently seen ads for ketamine pills sent directly to your home; hundreds of companies are popping up offering these services for conditions like depression and anxiety. Wait a minute — isn’t ketamine a horse tranquilizer? When did it become so popular, and is it really an effective mental health treatment? Although ketamine is most widely known as a tranquilizer for large animals like horses, it has actually been used as a human anesthetic for over 50 years. It is still preferred as an anesthetic in some situat ..read more

A new study conducted by researchers at Massachusetts General Brigham found ketamine to be a comparable and safer option to ECT for cases of severe treatment-resistant depression. For decades, ECT has been considered the “gold standard” for severe depression treatment, due to its high efficacy rates. Most antidepressants and other depression treatments are only effective for about one-third of people, but ECT is at least 50% effective for individuals with treatment-resistant depression. For this reason, it has historically been considered one of the most reliably effective options for severe d ..read more

More and more people struggling with depression are looking to ketamine treatment for relief. This relatively new antidepressant is proving to be astoundingly effective for treatment-resistant depression, having the potential to offer lasting relief and create meaningful change in the brain. Only one form of ketamine is FDA-approved: Spravato, an esketamine nasal spray. There isn’t much of a difference between Spravato and traditional ketamine. The substance consists of two mirror-image molecules, “R” and “S” ketamine. Standard ketamine is listed on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, b ..read more

As ketamine therapy is becoming increasingly popular as a treatment for depression and other conditions like PTSD and anxiety, most of the discussion focuses on its relatively minimal side effects and safety risks. Ketamine is an extremely safe medication, which is part of what makes it a unique anesthetic. Unlike other anesthetics, ketamine doesn’t suppress breathing or depress the circulatory system. Some clinicians consider it a safer anesthetic to traditional alternatives for these reasons. At subanesthetic doses, the negative health effects of ketamine are minimal and largely occur with r ..read more

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably heard that ketamine is one of the latest helpful therapies for treatment-resistant depression. Perhaps you’ve heard that it is the first iteration of the emerging field of psychedelic medicine, or perhaps you’ve heard that it’s a horse tranquilizer, and you’re really confused. I’m sure you’ve seen the jaw-dropping response rates of close to 80% with just a short course of infusions. Surely insurance will cover a treatment that is highly effective, that reduces hospitalizations and emergency room visits, and prevents suicide. Right? Yes and no, but mostly ..read more

In doing research surrounding ketamine therapy for depression, it’s easy to come across pictures of people with eye masks, blankets, and large, noise cancelling headphones. It seems like music during ketamine infusions is almost a requirement. In fact, some companies have been founded predicated on the idea that music with ketamine is exponentially more helpful than ketamine without music. The truth, however, is that we really don’t know that much. In reviewing the literature, there is an unsurprising dearth of scientific research studies that actually looked the effects of music and ketamine ..read more

Treating depression can be as challenging as living with it. For some individuals, an antidepressant medication helps them manage their symptoms without significant side effects. However, for others, these medications are not enough to treat mental health conditions that are often resistant to conventional treatments. Different people respond differently to various types of depression or anxiety treatments. What works for one person may not work for another, making it a process of trial and error to find an effective treatment. The good news is that with the various treatment options available ..read more

It’s not uncommon to experience anxiety. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that 6.8 million adults in the US are affected by generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Additionally, a recent CNBC report highlights a 25% increase in the sales of books related to anxiety at Barnes & Noble between 2017 and 2018. These statistics show that you are not alone and that there are solutions available. Today, we will explore the use of ketamine as a treatment option for anxiety, particularly when other methods have proven ineffective. What is Ketamine? Ketamine was first introduced ..read more