Ketamine Infusion Therapy for Depression

Depression (major depressive disorder or clinical depression) is one of the most common mood disorders today. Trauma and prolonged periods of heightened stress make us more susceptible to experiencing episodes of depression. It can affect how we feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working.

Depression therapy comes in many shapes, sizes, and forms. Ketamine treatment has been found to relieve the symptoms of depression within hours, rather than the usual weeks most antidepressants can take.

Thomas Insel, the former director of the National Institute of Health, described ketamine given intravenously, as one of “the most important breakthroughs in antidepressant treatment in decades.”

ketamine infusion therapy at scenic city

Ketamine for Depression Relief

Ketamine works by changing the baseline of the brain. The brain responds to this change of baseline by releasing a neuroprotective and neuroregenerative protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).This release of proteins repairs and protects neurons and results in the brain thinking clearer and operating optimally. When you think better, you feel better and you are able to more effectively work through traumas with your mental health provider.

Understanding more about this mental health condition helps you or your loved one get the treatment that is necessary to enjoy a more positive sense of mental wellbeing.

Common Signs of Depression

Prolonged or intense periods of sadness are the most common symptoms that people experience. During these periods, a person may also lose interest in their normal activities. While some people may experience intense sadness that involves crying, others may just have a low level of dissatisfaction with life. As the condition continues, people tend to begin to isolate themselves from others. They may also stop taking care of their personal hygiene, and they may stop keeping their home or bedroom clean.

What Is Ketamine?

What Is the Primary Benefit of Ketamine

The primary benefit associated with using Ketamine Infusion Therapy is the neurological benefit. As the brain communicates more effectively, your mood is not necessarily better or worse. Instead, you begin to feel your environment correctly. The stimulation in your world starts to elicit a more appropriate emotional and physical response.The best description we have heard to date is that it puts you “back into the present.” Too often, your mood is driven by feelings of things that happened yesterday or fears of what might happen tomorrow, and today gets neglected. Good things feel good while bad things feel bad. Neutral returns as the feeling of the moment when nothing is happening.

 

The brain optimization stimulated by Ketamine Infusion Therapy creates a neuroplastic environment in the brain where you have the ability to reprogram your unconscious emotional and physical responses to an experience or environment. This happens primarily in the 10-14 days following the Stabilization Phase, but it can continue with the support of periodic boosters to maintain plasticity.

How does Ketamine Help With Depression?

  • New imaging technologies have enhanced our understanding of how the brain communicates and how mood disorders manifest in the brain. We are now able to address the “mechanical” issues which produce feelings of depression. This approach differs from the initial understanding that depression is only a result of a chemical imbalance in the brain.
  • As a result of the chemical imbalance theory , medications have long been utilized to manipulate neurotransmitters in the brain with the goal of improving neuronal (brain cell) communication. This approach yields limited results. Think of the neurotransmitters as cars and the neurons (brain cells) as roads. Nearly all antidepressant medications are designed to add cars to the road, but the roads are closed.
  • Neurotherapy functions like a catalyst, triggering a process of self-optimization in the brain. It stimulates the growth of new, undifferentiated neurons and assists neurons with limited communication ability, which we now understand to be the source of the depressive symptoms, to reawaken and communicate optimally.
  • These poorly communicating neurons we are repairing are known as neuronal lesions. While depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and OCD are symptoms, the neuronal lesions which inhibit communication in the brain are the disease. These lesions (areas of poor communication) develop in response to traumatic events and prolonged periods of anxiety. Non-trauma related lesions typically manifest during puberty but have the ability to appear at any time throughout the lifespan.

Why doesn’t Scenic City Neurotherapy offer Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy?

Why don’t we offer take-home ketamine?

Is Ketamine addictive?

What if your provider is opposed to Ketamine Infusion Therapy?

What makes our process better?

Are you ready to address the root cause of depression?  

For decades, mental health care has been built around the management of symptoms rather than the treatment of the disease. Neurotherapy such as MSKIT and rTMS/iTBS are the two most effective means of enhancing neuronal communication which manifests as optimized emotional control, improved clarity and cognitive function, and the patient’s own perceived ability to be present and enjoy the moment.

We can help relieve depression

Battling depression can be difficult, especially with so many antidepressants on the market. Ketamine treatment provides fast, effective relief of depression symptoms. If you or a loved one is searching for depression treatment in Chattanooga, we can help.