Treating Depression with Ketamine
Ketamine Infusion Therapy is considered to be of the most promising treatments that can be used to fight the symptoms of severe depression.
It has empathogenic and psychedelic qualities which can enable patients to uncover the real cause of their depression. Ketamine Therapy also helps in catalyzing unique chemical reactions in the brain, which can balance depression-linked neurological systems.
Ketamine has been used since the 1960s in medical settings, and is a safe and proven anesthetic, which is used widely in burn centers and emergency rooms. In the last decade, research has shown that Ketamine IV Therapy in low, controlled doses can reverse the symptoms of severe depression within hours or even minutes.
Ketamine Therapy starts showing its effects almost as soon as it is used, and is significantly faster than conventional antidepressants which take several weeks before showing a positive impact. Ketamine Infusions are also used clinically to quickly prevent depressive episodes, including the severe ones that could lead to suicide.
The noteworthy Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles, led by the honorable Dr. Steven Mandel, provides ketamine infusion treatments to patients in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Orange County, California, and surrounding locations across the horizon in The Golden State.
Why Ketamine works as a Rapid Antidepressant?
A research team backed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently found why Ketamine IV Therapy shows fast results as an antidepressant.
The NIH research team, which published their findings in the Archives of General Psychiatry, said that volunteers in a study that had bipolar disorder and were resistant to treatment, were observed to experience relief from symptoms of depression in just 40 minutes after having an intravenous dose of the drug.
Eighteen of the participants had received unsuccessful treatment earlier with at least one mood stabilizer and antidepressant medication. The average number of medications tried on the volunteers was at least seven, all of which were unsuccessful.
When the volunteers received Ketamine IV Therapy, nine of 16 volunteers showed at least a 50 percent cut down in the symptoms within 40 minutes and two of 16 participants went on to show complete remission and became free of symptoms. The response stayed for an average of about seven days.
Other Research Studies
A National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) study conducted in 2006 was among the first to analyze the effects of Ketamine Infusion Therapy for depression. Eighteen unipolar patients who were depressed and showed resistance to treatment were chosen at random to get either a placebo or one intravenous dose of ketamine.
The researchers saw that there was an improvement in depression symptoms within just a day for 71 percent of patients who were treated with ketamine, and 29 percent of the volunteers became nearly symptom free in the span of a day. Thirty-five percent of the participants who got ketamine went on to show benefits even a week later.
A 2016 study, published online in the journal Nature, showed that researchers had observed that metabolite, which is a chemical byproduct, generated as ketamine is broken down by the body. The metabolite helped in reversing depression-like behaviors.
The sagacious Dr. Steven Mandel receives patients from Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Orange County, California, and nearby areas for ketamine infusion treatments.
For more information about Ketamine Infusion Therapy treatments for depression, bipolar, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), fibromyalgia, pain syndromes and other conditions contact us at the Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles in Southern California (Orange County) by clicking here or calling 310-270-0625
Treating patients from Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Orange County, San Diego, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Sacramento, CA, Northern & Southern California, Las Vegas, NV and many other cities from west to east coast.
