Mental Health disorders are debilitating mental conditions that affect how a person feels, thinks, and behaves. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Although many treatment options are available for people with mental health disorders, not every therapy or medication will work for everyone.
As most people continue to struggle with mental health, mainly due to the COVID-19 crisis effect, a significant number of people are choosing ketamine infusion therapy as an alternative to conventional pharmaceuticals and forms of treatment. For decades, Ketamine has been used as an anesthetic; however, today, it is mainly used as an off-label treatment for a wide range of mental disorders such as depression, suicidality, bipolar, addiction, and anxiety.
What Can Ketamine Treatment Help Treat?
Ketamine for Depression
Depression is the most common mental health disorder in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control, depression is the most frequent type of mental disease in the United States, with at least 15 million people receiving a diagnosis and treatment each year. Despite the efforts by the government and physicians to treat depression, conventional therapies like antidepressants and talk therapy have proven to be ineffective for about 30 percent of these people.
Unlike conventional antidepressants, ketamine infusion therapy has several advantages. In most cases, antidepressants may take several months to get rid of depression symptoms. More so, there are several side effects associated with antidepressants, such as dry mouth, libido loss, weight gain, and insomnia. On the other hand, Ketamine has few short-term side effects, not any long-term side effects, and is non-habit forming. More so, Ketamine offers immediate relief, with its results showing up in a matter of hours.
Treat Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a mental condition that causes people to experience mood swings, which can lead to many problems. Bipolar disorder is a severe mental health disorder that often goes undiagnosed because it doesn’t always have obvious symptoms.
Many people with bipolar disorder suffer from depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, and suicidal thoughts and tendencies. Mood stabilizers like lithium can help to prevent manic episodes by regulating the neurotransmitters in the brain. These medications are effective at bringing down highs and preventing lows, but they have some unpleasant side effects, including weight gain, fatigue, and edema.
According to a strategic plan released by the National Institute of Mental Health, glutamate inhibitors have effects similar to antidepressants. In a breakthrough clinical experiment, glutamate-dampening ketamine therapy significantly reduced depression in patients with treatment-resistant depression in less than two hours.
Treatment for Addiction
Ketamine has been shown to treat alcoholism and other forms of addiction effectively. Alcohol addiction can interfere with relationships and work performance, affecting the addict’s quality of life and putting their family at risk for violence. Relapse rates for alcoholism are high because many people don’t understand why recovering alcoholics relapse or have trouble maintaining sobriety.
Ketamine treats addiction by blocking the brain’s NMDA receptor, which is necessary for forming new memories. NMDA receptor is involved in learning and memory processes and is one of the main receptors that bind to the brain’s opioid system. Addiction can disrupt the normal functioning of this receptor, causing an increase in pleasurable responses to addictive substances. Ketamine works by binding to this NMDA receptor and preventing its normal functioning, which causes a decrease in anxiety, euphoria, and other psychotropic effects that encourage prolonged drug-seeking behavior.
Questions
Q: What can you treat with Ketamine?
A: Depression, anxiety, psychosis, alcoholism, and many other conditions.
Q: Is Ketamine a safe treatment option?
A: Yes, Ketamine is considered to be a safe medication. Ketamine is well tolerated and has no reported cardiovascular side effects. Ketamine has well-established efficacy for treating depression and is often utilized for its rapid antidepressant action, especially in depressed children. Nausea and anxiety are the most commonly observed adverse reactions associated with ketamine administration
Q: How does Ketamine affect mental health?
A: Ketamine affects mental health through its effects on the NMDA receptor. The NMDA receptor is an excitatory ion channel involved in memory, learning, and synaptic plasticity. When Ketamine binds to the NMDA receptor, its function is blocked, causing receptor desensitization. This means that instead of transmitting glutamate to increase excitability in the postsynaptic cell, there is a decrease in glutamate transmission, which reduces neuronal plasticity and response to stimuli.
Q: What are Ketamine effects on the brain?
A: Ketamine affects mental health through its effects on the NMDA receptor.
Visit Mind Body Wellness for Mental Treatment
Mind Body Wellness is an integrative mental health practice with locations in Franklin and Knoxville. We focus on a wide range of addictions, mental health, and co-occurring conditions, including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.
Mind Body Wellness provides comprehensive services using holistic and integrative techniques designed to promote a healthy mind, body, and spirit. They encourage their clients to live balanced lives by creating a healthy lifestyle that effectively addresses the causes of illness in the brain-body system. Our approach emphasizes holistic treatment and supporting wellness in every aspect of each person’s life.
