What is Ketamine?
Ketamine was developed in the 1960’s as a dissociative anesthetic and over the past several decades, research has revealed its greater clinical potential and roles to treat treatment-resistant depression. Ketamine can be delivered through various routes and Intramuscular Ketamine (IM) has a high bioavailability percentage (93%) where it can be rapidly absorbed and efficiently distributed throughout the body.
How does it help?
Ketamine is legal in a controlled medical setting and large bodies of literature have found it highly effective for depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, OCD, and PTSD. Ketamine modulates glutamate, one of the brain’s key neurotransmitters, an amino acid found in 80% of neurons. Glutamate also acts with another important neurotransmitter, GABA, to maintain a healthy and well-functioning nervous system. An imbalance between GABA and glutamate can cause problems, including anxiety, sleep disturbances, overstimulation, and other mental conditions. Ketamine can also cause physical growth and repair in brain cell connections, especially in areas related to emotional regulation. Coupled with therapy, ketamine can help patients explore painful emotions and memories.
What does treatment look like?
Here at Kaizen Brain Center, we recognize that ketamine works best as part of a broader treatment strategy. With our program, you will receive a consultation to personalize your treatment plan and your experience can be complemented with Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP). To get the maximum benefit from treatment, a licensed professional will guide you in your experience and provide preparatory and integration sessions to enhance your psychological well-being and meet unique treatment goals. Our care team will provide a calm setting, a safe environment, and genuine attention to needs throughout treatment.
Research:
Full article: Ketamine and depression: a narrative review (tandfonline.com)