KETAMINE TREATMENTS
Ketamine Infusion as an Effective Major Depression Treatment
All of us experience sadness and unhappiness at some point in our lives. Clinical depression, however, is different from just being sad or upset. It is more intense, of longer duration than the typical sadness, and interferes with the ability to engage in daily life activities.
It affects how we think, feel, and behave, leading to emotional as well as physical difficulties. Major Depressive Disorder, at its worst, can lead to self-harm and even suicide.
What is Major Depression?
Depression and its effects can stretch out into so many aspects of life. Diagnosis of major or clinical depression is made when a person experiences a particular set of symptoms for at least a 2-week period. These symptoms must be severe enough to impair normal functioning or cause significant distress and they must not be because of any other underlying medical condition.
The defining symptoms of major depression include depressed mood for most of the day and loss of interest and pleasure in activities that were gratifying previously.
- Feeling tired all the time as if you have no energy
- Weight gain or weight loss with significant increase or decrease in appetite
- Sleeping too much or difficulty falling asleep
- Feelings of guilt or worthlessness
- Difficulty in concentrating
- Loss of sex drive
- A slowdown in physical and/or mental activity
- Thoughts of suicide or death
Other symptoms of major depression may include the following:
Feeling tired all the time as if you have no energy
Feeling guilt or worthlessness
A slowdown in physical and/or mental activity
Weight gain or weight loss with significant increase or decrease in appetite
Difficulty in concentrating
Thoughts of suicide or death
Sleeping too much or difficulty falling asleep
Loss of sex drive
Depression is not an indicator of personal weakness and is not something that can be just wished or willed away. Without proper treatment, it can last up to years and even take the lives of its sufferers.
Treatment Options
Although there are various effective treatment options available for treating depression, more than 50% US adults suffering from depression do not receive adequate treatment. Several treatment approaches are available for major depression that include antidepressant medications, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), etc. Most commonly, antidepressants in combination with psychotherapy are used as the preferred methods of treatment. However, just like any other drug, antidepressants are not free of side effects. Electroconvulsive therapy is usually avoided and is left as the last resort for extreme cases.
KETAMINE INFUSION THERAPY
Ketamine has grabbed much attention from researchers and doctors and is proving to be a promising drug to treat major depression and other mental health conditions.It uses a different mechanism of action than the traditional antidepressant drugs. Ketamine, in the form of low-dose infusion therapy, has shown lasting benefits. It allows for neuroplasticity and neural regeneration in areas of the brain responsible for emotions and higher level thinking. It also has the ability to relieve the symptoms of depression within minutes to hours while the traditional antidepressants require at least 2 to 8 weeks to start showing their effects. In addition, there is none to minimal side effects of ketamine infusion therapy – as opposed to the lasting negative effects from more conventional treatment methods.
Ketamine Infusion Therapy can be a compelling option for patients who are suffering from major depression and have achieved no success even after trying all the traditional methods of treatment. It already begun to revolutionize the treatment of major depression completely.
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