If you’ve been diagnosed with a depressive disorder and haven’t gotten the relief you want with traditional treatments like antidepressants or talk therapy, you may be searching for alternative methods of symptom relief. That’s where ketamine therapy for depression comes in. Ketamine therapy is becoming exceedingly popular for its use in reducing symptoms in people struggling with treatment-resistant depression, and for good reasons. Find out why this type of therapy is making the news and becoming so widely available and whether or not you may be a good candidate for ketamine treatments.
The Need for Ketamine Treatments
Treatment-resistant depression is when a person with a depressive disorder doesn’t respond well to traditional treatment methods like psychiatric medications or counseling sessions. Unfortunately, according to statistics, treatment-resistant depression is very prevalent, with 2.8 million individuals living with this type of depression in the US today. This presents a need for treatment that goes beyond traditional therapies for depression, and ketamine is that solution. Rather than mask the symptoms of depression, ketamine therapy works to address the causes of depression by influencing specific neurons in the brain that are responsible for depressive symptoms.
The Different Types of Ketamine Applications
Currently, there are a few different ways to administer ketamine for use in reducing symptoms of treatment-resistant depression. The different applications for ketamine therapy include:
Intravenous: This is the most typical and common type of ketamine administration. It involves administering ketamine straight into the bloodstream by use of an IV. Low doses of ketamine are slowly introduced into the bloodstream in a medical setting. This way, medical staff can carefully monitor patients. These therapy sessions can take up to 45 minutes, but as the ketamine releases immediately, symptom relief also happens instantly.
Esketamine Nasal Spray: Esketamine is another form of ketamine. It was produced for use to administer the medication in other ways. For example, by inhalation. Brands like Spravato make inhaling esketamine an easy method of using ketamine for depression treatment as they’ve made an esketamine nasal inhaler. This administration is also necessary under the guidance of medicinal care but makes application quick and easy. Plus, inhaling a substance introduces the medication directly into the bloodstream. Therefore, patients also see immediate symptom relief with this type of administration as well.
The type of administration of ketamine depends on the needs and preferences of each patient. If you’re considering using ketamine treatment for depression, speak with your mental health practitioner to determine which application may be best for you.
Some Important Information to Know About Ketamine Therapy
People looking to utilize additional tools to manage depression symptoms may have questions about ketamine therapy. Therefore, there are some things you should know about this type of therapy for depression include:
- the dose used in ketamine therapy for depression is very low which reduces the risk of tolerance and dependency
- symptom relief can often occur in as little as 1-3 treatment sessions
- people who experience symptom relief in the first few sessions can continue the use of ketamine treatments
Talk to Synchrony About Your Treatment-Resistant Depression Relief Options
Finally, if you or a loved one is struggling with treatment-resistant depression, ketamine therapy may be the tool you’re looking for to reduce and relieve symptoms. Synchrony Brain Health offers ketamine treatment for qualifying patients. So, learn more about how we offer alternatives to traditional mental health treatments at our facility from our website.
