Ketamine Therapy Could Treat Alcohol Addiction

According to scientists, a comprehensive treatment with ketamine may enable patients to overcome alcohol addiction by “erasing” memories related to drinking. Ketamine Therapy is now used to treat symptoms of depressive disorders and various other mental health conditions.

Its potential benefits in the treatment of alcohol addiction hold promise for thousands of people struggling with this problem.

Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles, led by Dr. Steven L. Mandel, provides ketamine infusion treatments to patients in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Orange County, California, and surrounding locations.

Research on the Use of Ketamine in Alcohol Addiction

Psychologists at University College London are assessing whether a single dose of ketamine could help heavy drinkers seeking to decrease alcohol dependence. Alcohol addiction is infamous for the difficulties it presents in treatment, and there is limited availability of viable treatment options.

The researchers highlight that ongoing studies indicate that ketamine may be useful in disrupting negative behavioral patterns that lead to addiction. Lead researcher Ravi Das pointed out that there is credible evidence to show that ketamine may be helpful in treating alcohol addiction.

Importantly, ketamine can distort memory formation, and scientists highlight that this characteristic may help in over-writing the memories that fuel alcohol addiction and other harmful behavioral patterns.

Das elaborates that memories can be hijacked via drugs in some individuals. An alcohol addicted person may have powerful memories of being in specific places and desiring to consume alcohol. Such memories are continually triggered by various elements in the immediate environment that the patient cannot avoid.

Hearing glasses clink, seeing a mug of beer, or even coming back home after a long day of work could trigger memories of the rewarding feeling associated with having a drink. Such memories may encourage a person to follow through with this urge and consume alcohol.

Das also highlights that a high rate of relapse is a significant challenge. Individuals do quit drinking in the short-run when under observation at a hospital. However, when they arrive home, they encounter the environmental triggers that may prompt drinking again.

An increasing body of evidence suggests that memories are more unstable than earlier assumed. This means that they may be open to manipulation.

Every time our brain seeks a memory, the neural connections that encode the memory are destabilized temporarily. This means that our memory can be slightly changed before it goes into storage. This is also a reason why different people recollect vividly different versions of the same occurrence.

Ketamine Obstructs NMDA

Scientists feel that this short duration of instability is a vast opportunity clinically. Ketamine Infusion Therapy obstructs a brain receptor known as NMDA. This receptor enables the creation of memories.

Researchers suggest that if a person is given ketamine just as the memory has been destabilized, it may help make the memory weaker or even completely erase it.

In the trials at UCL, the scientists activate alcohol-related memories by putting a beer glass in front of the participants who drink heavily.

At this point, the participants will receive a ketamine infusion, or a placebo. The research team will follow up with participants for one year and determine whether there is a change in their drinking pattern.

Dr. Steven L. Mandel cares for patients from Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Orange County, California, and nearby areas for ketamine infusion treatments.

What does this mean, surprise the participant?

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 Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles in Southern California (Orange County) by clicking here or calling  310-270-0625.