Ketamine For PTSD and Depression

Done under a medical supervision, looks very promising. BTW, VA has approved a ketamine derivative as a nasal spray called Spravato:

https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pres...se.cfm?id=5220

Ketamine: A Promising Novel Therapy for Anxiety and PTSD

Ketamine was originally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an anesthetic, but is increasingly being used to treat mood disorders, such as treatment-resistant depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).1,2 Several studies have also found it to be effective for treating suicidal ideation.3,4

“Ketamine can play an important role in the treatment of anxiety disorders,” according to Prakash Masand, MD, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Centers of Psychiatric Excellence (COPE) (https://www.copepsychiatry.com) and adjunct professor at the Academic Medicine Education Institute, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School (Duke-NUS).

“Nowadays, people with anxiety disorders are treated either with a generic antidepressant, such as an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor), an SNRI (selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor), or a benzodiazepine and if they don’t respond to one of these, they get a trial of another or several more,” Dr Masand said.

However, between 30% and 40% of these patients will not achieve remission, despite 3 or 4 different traditional agents, and even with evidence-based nonpharmacologic therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or mentalization-based therapy (MBT), he noted.

Cont:

https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/ho...iety-and-ptsd/

Interesting to hear of the effects for anxiety and depression. I'm part of a very active Sheriffs Office SAR team, and we've been using Ketamine for some time now to treat injured patients on the mountain. It's a great tool in that environment, and has a lot of different positive uses.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by B Cart

Interesting to hear of the effects for anxiety and depression. I'm part of a very active Sheriffs Office SAR team, and we've been using Ketamine for some time now to treat injured patients on the mountain. It's a great tool in that environment, and has a lot of different positive uses.

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Of course it ended up as a club drug at one point ("special K") and that's given it a bad rap among some, and then the always useful "war on drugs" pops up, and it's decades or more until people that could benefit have access. Anyway, it's been in med use since the 60s and appears to have some profound effects on the brain.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WillBrink

Done under a medical supervision, looks very promising. BTW, VA has approved a ketamine derivative as a nasal spray called Spravato:

https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pres...se.cfm?id=5220

Ketamine: A Promising Novel Therapy for Anxiety and PTSD

Ketamine was originally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an anesthetic, but is increasingly being used to treat mood disorders, such as treatment-resistant depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).1,2 Several studies have also found it to be effective for treating suicidal ideation.3,4

“Ketamine can play an important role in the treatment of anxiety disorders,” according to Prakash Masand, MD, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Centers of Psychiatric Excellence (COPE) (https://www.copepsychiatry.com) and adjunct professor at the Academic Medicine Education Institute, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School (Duke-NUS).

“Nowadays, people with anxiety disorders are treated either with a generic antidepressant, such as an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor), an SNRI (selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor), or a benzodiazepine and if they don’t respond to one of these, they get a trial of another or several more,” Dr Masand said.

However, between 30% and 40% of these patients will not achieve remission, despite 3 or 4 different traditional agents, and even with evidence-based nonpharmacologic therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or mentalization-based therapy (MBT), he noted.

Cont:

https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/ho...iety-and-ptsd/

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I was rather surprised the first time I dealt with ketamine spray. Dude was speedballin' on that + some other stuff. Wild.

Put me in the camp of "I believe in absence of a clearly defined physiological problem, (bipolar, schizophrenia,etc.), lifestyle/behavior modification is the only sustainable method to properly treat psych disorders."
It is my opinion that we have put too much stock in chemicals, and not enough stock in building young men and women (or rehabilitating older men and women) to be happy, healthy, and successful. Pills pay a lot better, and many people "just want a quick fix" to a life-long thing.

Obviously not what this thread is about, but...

I feel like potential for abuse of ketamine spray is very high. What works in a lab, in my experience, does not sometimes work in the hands of the genpop. See my first line in my post for an example.