Around 16 million US citizens are suffering from depression. Adding insult to injury, there is still not a standard therapy for major depressive disorders. As a result, patients couldn’t get the required help from the professionals to battle out this protracted mental illness.
However, there are many physicians out there who are relentlessly striving to come out with successful treatments for depression. Ketamine for depression is just the extension of these efforts. Many patients and doctors have corroborated that ketamine treatments are helping in dealing with the underlying mechanism that leads to a depressive state of mind.
An Accidental Discovery
Ketamine was originally developed to provide anesthesia. However, in recent years, scientists have studied the other effects that ketamine has on the brain. These findings show that ketamine is more than just an anesthetic. Patients can also administer it to treat depression.
We don’t want you to fixate on the methodological details of how ketamine acts against depression. Nevertheless, it is important to get a gist of this mechanism to understand why ketamine for depression is becoming a prevalent treatment.
Ketamine Rebalance Neurotransmitters and Their Receptors
Neurotransmitters are at the core of every mental response and illness too. How we feel and behave strongly depends on these small chemical compounds and their binding within the brain. Ketamine is believed to rebalance the density of neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA in the brain by blocking their receptors.
Blocking GABA receptors helps patients who have become resistant to conventional therapies in relieving depression symptoms.
It’s Effective than Traditional Treatments Against Depression
It has been studied that nearly one-third of depression patients can’t experience any improvement in their condition after administrating conventional medications for depression. These medications actually inhibit the re-absorption of serotonin which is also a neurotransmitter and associated with happiness and joy. Ketamine treatments don’t mess with regular serotonin activity in the brain.
How Professionals Use Ketamine for Depression
Physicians often use ketamine for the treatment of depression with some other medications or psychotherapy sessions. Like any other medication, the use of ketamine also entails side effects. However, one can minimize them by administrating it under professional supervision.
Dr. Irfan A. Handoo is an experienced physician with the expertise of both medication management and psychotherapy. He takes a holistic approach that’s based on compassion and empathy when dealing with mental disorders including depression. Dr. Handoo also oversees the IV ketamine treatment for treatment-resistant depression cases.