Ketamine Treatment For PTSD and Depression

By Christopher Sendi, MD

NOVA Addiction Specialists, LLC

. http://www.novaddiction.com/

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Ketamine Treatment For PTSD and Depression

Depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and PTSD affect millions of people in the United States, many of whom are treated with traditional medications that may take weeks to work, if at all. With shorter daylight hours at hand, many people are depressed due to seasonal affective disorder.
It is hard to struggle through the day when the depression or fear paralyses a person from even getting out of bed. Some will reach for alcohol or opioids to make it through the worst times, while others may reach out to their therapists for counseling and medications. However, many people don’t even make it to a physician’s office and suffer in silence or even worse, end up trying to commit suicide.
Ketamine has been used safely in medical practice for over 50 years, but it’s impact in treating mental health disorders was recognized in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s with studies demonstrating its rapid anti-depressant effect, and in other studies showing it’s benefit in treating PTSD. Many of these patients had failed numerous FDA approved therapies, including “shock therapy” or ECT. Despite the large numbers of people who suffer from depression and other mood disorders, there have been very few advances in the rapid treatment of these conditions.
In the New York Times, Sunday, November 18, an article, Can We Stop the Suicides, appeared in the opinion section, in which the potential benefits of ketamine therapy were described for mood disorders. This showcased the experience of years of ketamine infusions and research as they positively impacted mental health outcomes. Ketamine can be a rapid-acting game changer for patients with treatment-resistant depression, suicidal thoughts, and for some, PTSD. This therapy has offered hope to many patients who had little to look forward to otherwise when every other treatment seemed to fail.
Ketamine can be offered in multiple formulations as it can be absorbed through multiple routes, and currently the FDA is evaluating a new form of intranasal ketamine for approval in depression. Most studies for depression and PTSD have involved a series of intravenous infusions to improve a patient’s mental state.
Many patients have seen positive changes within the first day, something that traditional medications have been unable to do. Hopefully ketamine therapy as a rapid-acting adjunctive treatment will become more familiar to clinicians and patients who have been suffering with relentless depression.