3 Ways Ketamine Is Changing Mental Health Today
Updated: Feb 6, 2024
Written by: Leslie Koenig, MD, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Ketamine is an old medicine with a new purpose. It was FDA approved as an anesthesia medication, but new research has found breakthrough use for treating depression, PTSD, anxiety, and chronic pain. It has been found to work in an entirely new way compared to any other antidepressant out there, which is how it has such profound and life changing effects.
1. Rapid acting
The first way in which ketamine is changing everything we know is how fast it works. Within hours to days, suicidal ideations can go into complete remission. Because of this finding, a new group of antidepressants was born – Rapid Acting Antidepressants (RAAD). This means that it made all other, conventional medications now classified as Slow Acting Antidepressants, or SAAD. Ketamine is the leading medicine in the RAAD category, with the bonus effect over all others in how it treats not just depression, but also chronic pain. No other RAAD can claim this.
2. Think different
Secondly, the previously held concepts of where in the brain “depression is” is rapidly changing. Ketamine works on an entirely different receptor, not the serotonin receptor as most antidepressants do. It works on a very specific one – the NMDA receptor, and this is an entirely new idea in the field of psychiatry and neuroscience.
3. Creating healthcare teams
Ketamine is a medicine that for the last few decades has been used by anesthesiologists and emergency room doctors. As an ER physician myself, I found ketamine fantastic for using on the battlefield of Afghanistan with casualties, but also here in the USA with nervous kids who needed stitches. Now that we’re finding it helps mental health, doctors from psychiatry and family medicine are centering together around our patients and this novel treatment. This means better communication and a team-based approach for the best patient outcomes.
Uncovering the hidden secrets of ketamine – how fast it works, what it tells us about the future of neuroscience, and uniting doctors, makes this an exciting time to find new solutions and change everything we thought we knew for a better tomorrow.
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Leslie Koenig, MD, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Leslie Koenig, MD is a pioneer in the IV ketamine clinic world, opening Waybridge Clinics in Omaha, NE. A celebrated board certified Emergency Physician with extensive experience helping others in wellness and physical and mental trauma, she wrote “Stress Relief Survival Guide” with accompanying YouTube course. Dedicating her life to service after 8 years in the US Navy and a combat deployment with the USMC to Afghanistan, she is a life long learner who aims to transform healthcare by empowering patients through an integrative medicine perspective.
