Ketamine is a medication primarily used for inducing anesthesia during medical procedures. It causes unconsciousness and puts the person into a trance-like state providing pain relief, sedation, memory loss, or amnesia. Ketamine is related to the drug known as phencyclidine (PCP) but has less than 10% of the potency of pure PCP. Ketamine is considered a hallucinogen and dissociative anesthetic. This type of drug will distort or block sensory perception. It has become a popular drug for drug-seeking cultures to ingest at clubs or parties.
How Does a Ketamine Can Be Effective in Treating Depression Disorder?
When a person takes Ketamine, they experience euphoria and are relaxed. People on Ketamine will describe their high as being in a “K-hole.” A k-hole is when a person feels an inability to move or come back to reality. Many people express having the sensation of floating and feeling disconnected from reality. The people who use Ketamine regularly do become addicted and need more and more drugs to feel its high. The potential for overdose is not as common as with other types of anesthesia-type club drugs, yet Ketamine can still cause serious medical emergencies to happen.
Ketamine Changes Course of Major Depressive Disorder Treatment
In the last few years since 2019, Ketamine has been selected as a useful drug to treat some cases of depression. For the people who have tried other treatments and are not getting better, Ketamine can help them. These cases are called treatment-resistant depression. These individuals have often tried medications and therapy and are not improving. Most medications that treat depression include drugs to boost serotonin levels or reduce ephedrine, which is anxiety providing body chemical that occurs when a person is diagnosed with depression. In general, most pharmacotherapies for depression do help many people.
Efficacy of Ketamine Therapy in the Treatment of Depression
Harvard Medical Scholl recently published an article explaining how mental health professionals are excited about how quickly Ketamine for depression helps their patients. They expand how Ketamine is faster than other tree manor drugs. Harvard plumbing points out the two types of Ketamine used to treat depression and are different from what is bought for drug abuse.
If a person responds to Ketamine, it can rapidly reduce suicidal thoughts and relieve other serious symptoms of depression. Ketamine also can be effective for treating depression combined with anxiety. Two main types of Ketamine are used to treat major depression that has not responded to other medications for treatment-resistant depression. Racemic Ketamine, which is most often given as an infusion into the bloodstream. This is sometimes called intravenous or IV-Ketamine. Second is Esketamine (Spravato), which the FDA recently approved is given as a nasal spray. (Harvard)
Popular Street Names for Ketamine
Illegal use of Ketamine has created street names so the drug which includes:
- Special K
- K2
- Vitamin K
- Super K
- Kit Kat
- Super Acid
- Special LA Coke
- Cat or Cat Valium
Ketamine Addiction Help at Evoke Wellness at Cohasset
If you or someone you love is taking Ketamine for the drug effects and not for depression, they likely have an addiction. The program we recommend provides advanced counseling and therapy and support for getting free of an addiction to Ketamine. Evoke Wellness at Cohasset specializes in drug-specific rehab methods and treatment that rely on evidence-based ketamine treatment programs including psychotherapy cognitive-behavioral therapy and one-on-one counseling, group counseling, and holistic therapy methods. Our addiction specialists are available around the clock and all calls are free and confidential. Let us help you on your path to a happier and healthier lifestyle free from ketamine addiction.
