Is ketamine a cure for mental health conditions?

Is Ketamine A Cure For Mental Health Conditions?

Dr Wells discusses whether ketamine is a cure for mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.

Will ketamine cure me?

Ketamine therapy, especially when administered by IV infusion, is an exceptional treatment option – providing substantial symptom reduction for many people. The results can be both rapid and sustained over time. Ketamine can help with mild, moderate, or even severe symptoms. It can help with acute, chronic, and treatment-resistant symptoms. It can help with depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, and other conditions and symptoms. Ketamine treatments offer the promise of real and lasting hope… However, ketamine is not a cure.

Just like insulin doesn’t cure diabetes and beta blockers don’t cure heart disease, ketamine isn’t a cure. It won’t eliminate symptoms forever, and patients are rarely done after one treatment or after a single series of treatments. The underlying conditions generally persist. Ketamine can rapidly improve symptoms and can be used as a rapid-acting treatment for people in acute distress, but it is important to see Ketamine as a maintenance therapy that can help alleviate symptoms and improve mental health over time.

While ketamine can work on its own, we work to embrace a holistic approach that has the best promise of helping a patient achieve and carry forward meaningful improvements in mental health. For example:

  • With depression, there is a lot of isolation – we encourage socialization, getting out, and seeking out the company of others and relationships.
  • There can also be anhedonia, or the decreased desire to do things and decreased pleasure in things – we encourage patients to seek out activities that once brought joy, and to work toward greater appreciation with techniques such as mindfulness activities.
  • Patients often have problems with insomnia – we work with our patients on developing sleep techniques and insomnia techniques, which also aren’t a cure for insomnia, but exercises to help treat the condition.

We work, when and as possible, to address the component factors contributing to your mental health as part of our ketamine treatments – providing consultation and resources to help. We recognize that mental health is a multi-faceted and continuous effort. The work and treatments each person needs will be different – but we all need to continuously work on our mental health over time.

Your Schedule of Ketamine Treatments

Your schedule of treatments will vary from other people, and may vary over time.

We typically start by seeing patients for an initial series of 6 treatments over several weeks, followed by maintenance treatments thereafter. Most patients maintain a regular schedule of maintenance treatments, with periodic adjustments an additional series from time to time. There are many presentations of depression, for instance. Meanwhile there are many differing factors contributing to every individual’s mental health journey from the stresses of their work, to the quality of their close relationships, to unforeseen events that may occur in their life. All these things mean that the treatment frequency from one patient to the next can vary.

Treatment frequency can also vary over time. Life is messy. Unsettling life events happen like a death in the family or a job loss. Sometimes symptoms can get worse for no apparent reason at all. And sometimes there are real positive events that give you a big boost, or the work you’ve been doing on your mental health pays off with better and better symptom reduction. We work to help when you require additional treatments, and we welcome the opportunity to see you less frequently when you are doing well.

The great news is that ketamine can provide lasting benefits for a long period of time. The science of the drug, the many studies on its use, and the years of patient results show that ketamine used appropriately continues to provide substantial benefits indefinitely – and it is especially helpful when combined with other efforts such as lifestyle improvements and other treatment modalities.

Ketamine is an excellent part of a long-term comprehensive approach to improved mental health.

About Us

Wells Medicine is a Houston-based practice designed to provide meaningful care for mental health. Providing targeted interventional treatments for Depression, Anxiety, OCD, PTSD and other conditions, with Ketamine Treatments, Stellate Ganglion Blocks, TMS, and Nitrous-Oxide Treatments. Focused on comprehensive care and integration with Psychiatry, Psychology, and Support Services. We are evidence-based, patient-focused and mission-driven.

The content here is for informational purposes and should not be relied upon for medical decisions. For the details of your specific medical conditions and treatments consult your doctors or other qualified healthcare professionals.

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