Ketamine – An anesthetic which was initially accepted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Later, ketamine is being put to use in treatment of mood disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Ketamine plays a vital role in treatment of anxiety disorders. Patients with anxiety disorders are treated either with a generic antidepressant or benzodiazepine. If they don’t respond to one of these, they get a trial of another or several more.

How Does Ketamine Work?

Ketamine is an ionotropic glutamatergic N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist. Its antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects are presumed to occur through activating synaptic plasticity by increasing brain-derived neutrophic factor translation and secretion and also by inhibiting glycogen synthase kinase-3 and activating mammalian target of rapamycin signaling.

Brain-derived neutrophic factor plays a role in behavioral responses to classical antidepressants, but the impact on synaptic plasticity may take several weeks to manifest. In contrast, ketamine-mediated synaptic plasticity changes appear to occur within a matter of hours after ketamine administration.

After initiating treatment with traditional antidepressants, dendritic growth and increased synaptic connections occur in 6 to 12 weeks but with ketamine, these can occur within 24 hours of the infusion.

Ketamine and Anxiety:

Ketamine has been studied and shown [to be] effective with an array of anxiety disorders, including SAD, general anxiety disorder (GAD), and PTSD, although the data on its effectiveness in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are more mixed.

Anxious Depression

A study with anxious and non-anxious bipolar depression patients found that both anxious and non-anxious patients with bipolar depression had significant antidepressant responses to ketamine, although the anxious depressed group did not show a clear antidepressant response disadvantage over the non-anxious group.  Anxiety has been shown to be a predictor of poor treatment response in bipolar depression when traditional treatments are used.

Ketamine’s psychedelic effects make it a” popular recreational drug.” At lower doses, the major effects are stimulating, and users experience mild dissociation with hallucinations and a distortion of time and space. However, higher doses can induce more severe, schizophrenia-like symptoms and perceptions. Although these effects resolve rapidly, long-term use can cause more pronounced and persistent neuropsychiatric symptoms. For this reason, ketamine should be used cautiously with other drugs that alter mood and perception, including alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines and cannabis.

 Ketamine for treatment-resistant depression has a strong proof base and a rapidly-growing facts base for its use in anxiety disorders. Ketamine is occupying a more promising role in treatment of anxiety disorder. ketamine can make an important difference for a large number of people who suffer from this debilitating condition.

Affecting 40 million adults each year, anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental illness conditions in the United States. Fortunately, anxiety disorders are highly treatable. As an expert in the field of ketamine infusion therapy, Dr. Shawn Roofian, of the Ketamine Medical Institute, with three locations in the Los Angeles area, provides this innovative therapy for men and women suffering from anxiety. Even if you’ve tried other methods without success, ketamine infusion therapy may be the solution that gives you long-term relief from anxiety. Call either the Beverly Hills, Tarzana offices, or schedule a consultation online.