Bridging Brain Chemistry and Wellness
Holistic ketamine treatment is reshaping the future of psychiatry and pain management. Unlike traditional approaches, it combines the neurobiological effects of ketamine with integrative wellness practices such as mindfulness, psychotherapy, and nutritional support to create lasting transformation.
The Holistic Ketamine Institute offers a promising new pathway for healing that's rooted in brain science, yet expansive enough to address the whole self. By integrating traditional neuroscience with modern integrative care, our treatments allow patients not just to feel better, but to truly transform.
History of Ketamine
Ketamine is a “dissociative anesthetic” originally discovered in the 1960s and approved for use by the FDA in 1970. It has more recently been utilized as a treatment for pain management and treatment resistant depression and is currently being studied for other off label purposes including addiction, general anxiety disorder and other chronic medical issues.
Ketamine & Mental Health
People experiencing mental and sometimes physical illnesses can have neural connections that are damaged and not working optimally leaving people feeling stuck in certain behaviors, compulsions and thought distortions that keep them from fully living their lives. Ketamine works to help create new neural pathways that can lead to long term changes that can have a lasting effect.
At the Molecular Level
Ketamine works by targeting N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors within the brain. It effectively blocks pain transmission in the spinal cord via blockade of glutamate receptors. For mental healthcare, ketamine is thought to work by creating new neuronal synapses in our brain. The analogy is a plant growing new buds, new synapses, allowing for new connections, new ways of thinking, of believing, of responding. It fundamentally changes our brain to allow us to behave or respond in different, better ways.
Ketamine Research
Clinical research continues to demonstrate that ketamine is a promising and effective treatment option for a range of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and more. As scientists deepen their understanding of ketamine's mechanisms and long-term effects, this innovative therapy is reshaping the landscape of psychiatric care and offering hope to individuals who have not responded to traditional treatments.
Clinical Articles
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Efficacy of ketamine therapy in the treatment of depression
Severe depressive disorder is among most debilitating condition. Conventional pharmacotherapy usually takes several weeks (usually 4-12 weeks) to improve symptoms. Ketamine is an N-methyl-D aspartate receptor antagonist having rapid action on depressive symptoms.
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Ketamine—New Possibilities in the Treatment of Depression: A Narrative Review
The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus epidemic has led to an increase in the number of people with depression. Symptoms related to the mental sphere (mainly depression and anxiety) may be experienced by one third of the worldwide population. This entails the need for the effective and rapid treatment of depressive episodes. An effective drug seems to be s-ketamine, which was accepted in March 2019 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of drug-resistant depression.
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Ketamine use in current clinical practice, Mei Gao
After nearly half a century on the market, ketamine still occupies a unique corner in the medical armamentarium of anesthesiologists or clinicians treating pain. Over the last two decades, much research has been conducted highlighting the drug's mechanisms of action, specifically those of its enantiomers.
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Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy
Currently, ketamine is the only legal psychedelic medicine available to mental health providers for the treatment of emotional suffering. Over the past several years, ketamine has come into psychiatric use as an intervention for treatment resistant depression (TRD), administered intravenously without a psychotherapeutic component.
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Ketamine for Depression: where do we go from here
Since publication of the first randomized controlled trial describing rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine, several reports have confirmed the potential utility of this dissociative anesthetic medication for treatment of major depressive episodes, including those associated with bipolar disorder and resistant to other medications and electroconvulsive therapy.
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Ketamine for the treatment of mental health, Walsh
In the past two decades, subanaesthetic doses of ketamine have been demonstrated to have rapid and sustained antidepressant effects, and accumulating research has demonstrated ketamine's therapeutic effects for a range of psychiatric conditions.
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Ketamine Reduces muscle pain, temporal summation, and referred pain in fibromyalgia patients
Central mechanisms related to referred muscle pain and temporal summation of muscular nociceptive activity are facilitated in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients. The present study assessed the effects of an NMDA-antagonist (ketamine) on these central mechanisms.
Ketamine In The News
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Ketamine lifts depression longer with positive feedback - NPR
In a recent small study, the antidepressant effects of ketamine lasted longer when an intravenous dose was followed with computer games featuring smiling faces or words aimed at boosting self-esteem.
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How Ketamine Drug Helps with depression
In 2019, the FDA approved the first new medication for major depression in decades. The drug is a nasal spray called esketamine, derived from ketamine—an anesthetic that has made waves for its surprising antidepressant effect. Our Yale psychiatrists discuss its benefits and limitations.
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Ketamine Infusions Cut Migraine Pain in Half
Researchers are studying the drug as a therapy for migraines that haven't responded to other treatments.
Helpful Videos
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Ketamine and Depression: how it works by Yale Medicine
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Ketamine for Depression by Dr. Tracey Marks
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Ketamine for Depression Kyle Kittleson and MedCircle
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Fox 11 News Ketamine for Depression
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Ketamine for Depression by MedCircle
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Ketamine for Depression: War on Drugs: Vice TV
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Psychedelic Assisted Therapy: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
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Study: Ketamine Therapy Improves Depression and Anxiety
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Researchers Figure Out why Ketamine acts as Rapid Depressant