The Magic of Ketamine: How This “Club Drug” Became a Mental Health Marvel

If you asked three different people about the uses of ketamine, you could get three different answers.

The first person might be familiar with ketamine for its early use as a veterinary anesthetic, particularly one for horses. The second person might think of ketamine’s popularity as a club drug in the 1980s.

The third person, however, might tell you that ketamine is a groundbreaking mental health treatment. They may even express excitement about how effective it can be for people who’ve tried other treatments for depression but haven’t seen results.

What Ketamine Can Do for Treatment-Resistant Depression

To understand why ketamine has been getting so much attention as a mental health treatment, it helps to understand how it works.

Ketamine interacts with the chemicals in your brain. Specifically, ketamine changes the way a chemical called glutamate functions.

Glutamate is a neurotransmitter, meaning it helps your brain convey chemical messages, enabling you to think and feel. Unlike other neurotransmitters, it can bind to four different receptors in your brain. Because it’s so versatile, this brain chemical is involved in 90% of all of your brain’s excitatory functions (i.e., actions that can trigger a physiological or psychological response).

When your brain doesn’t make or use glutamate well, it can lead to mood problems and mental health challenges. But ketamine infusions give you a way to directly treat that root cause of depression.

When ketamine interacts with your brain, it engages with the glutamate. Research suggests that it causes a surge in glutamate neurotransmission. And that drives results for people with treatment-resistant depression.

Per the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, 70% of patients who get three ketamine infusions report a significant reduction in their depression symptoms. Some people even see results within an hour of their first infusion.

What to Expect with Ketamine Therapy

We can help you decide if ketamine therapy is right for you. It’s particularly effective for people with depression who haven’t responded to other treatments. If psychotherapy and medications haven’t improved your symptoms, this treatment option could be a good fit.

Here at Delve Psychiatry, John Reitano, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist, personalizes your ketamine therapy to you and your symptoms. He also takes any medications you’re taking, your medication history, and even your metabolism into account.

We administer this kind of therapy as an IV. You relax in our comfortable office during treatment, which usually takes about an hour. You’ll need to take the rest of the day off, but you can resume all of your normal daily activities the following day.

Dr. Reitano recommends a specific number of treatments for you, but most patients see significant relief from their symptoms with somewhere around six ketamine therapy appointments.

If you’re tried other treatments for depression but haven’t seen relief, don’t hesitate to talk to our team about this option. To get started, schedule an appointment with us today. Here at our office, we can help you determine if ketamine infusions are right for you. And if they are, we tailor your treatment and administer it in a safe, comfortable environment.