Category: Kids, Teens, and College Students

Articles about Kids, Teens, and College Students from Lori Calabrese, MD | The Ketamine Blog

We offer these articles about kids, teens, and college students to provide real information. We hope this improves understanding about psychiatric disorders in people under the age of 22.

First, it’s true that Lori Calabrese, M.D., is not a pediatric psychiatrist. However, she treats teens from age 14 to adult with IV ketamine infusions when they’re candidates for this innovative treatment.

Ketamine Treatment for Psychiatric Disorders

Parke-Davis developed ketamine and the FDA approved it for anesthesia in 1970, Ketamine demonstrates its safety every day in countries around the world. Of course, that reputation for safety goes with its use in small doses for babies, children, adolescents, and adults.

When we treat a patient with ketamine infusions for depression and other psychiatric disorders, the dose we use is even smaller than the doses used for anesthesia.

Suicide in Children

You may not be aware that some children, not just teenagers, reach a point of desperation and sometimes think about death, dying, and suicide. Just as there is a difference in the methods male suicide victims use as opposed to women, there is a difference in the methods children use in contrast with teens or adults.

Whether a child or teenager makes an impulsive decision on the spur of the moment or methodically plots, plans, and executes the plan depends partially on personality, maturity, and frame of mind.

But, this one thing is indisputable. If suicide is successful, opportunities for treatment, relief, and hope, are gone.

Ketamine Can Rapidly Erase Suicidal Thoughts

This may be the most important reason for my use of ketamine in treating my patients. To circumvent suicidal thoughts, we can turn to IV ketamine treatment, and the suicidal thoughts usually dissipate within an afternoon.

And, this is life-saving.

Until ketamine emerged, we could only prescribe a daily medication and wait for weeks or months for it to do its job. This delay was life-threatening for those who were suicidal. Ketamine is saving lives now.

These articles about kids teens and adults can hopefully provide you with information and fight stigma, as well.

See you inside…

For the Depressed Mom: Ketamine Can Restore Your Joy

“Motherhood is a choice you make everyday, to put someone else’s happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you’re not sure what the right thing is…and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong.” – Donna Ball, author of At Home on Ladybug Farm

Let’s talk about moms.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and if you were a mom yesterday, chances are, you’re still a mom today. We could talk about all the idealistic and billowing praises that are bestowed upon moms in greeting cards, but let’s don’t. Let’s talk about what it’s really like to be one. And if you’re a depressed mom, ketamine can restore your hope, your joy, and your stamina to help your children grow. More about that in a bit.

Motherhood Is a Handful.

With the best of intentions, you gather your kids together and tell them you’re all going on a camping trip. Together! But….there is so much to be done before you can all load the car. So in the spirit of pitching in and working for the common good, you assign each one a task that will help shorten the prep time.

Then you focus on your own tasks which include packing food for meals. While you’re busy in the kitchen, you hear an unusual noise.

Closer inspection reveals that your 10 year-old son is in the bathroom (which he was supposed to be cleaning) after putting his sleeping bag by the front door, and has filled the sink with water.

He’s floating a little boat on the water with his pet hamster in the boat which immediately jumps out of the boat, over to the counter and jumps down under the cabinet and disappears.

Oh dear.

Now there’s a loose rodent in the house. Aaaarrrgghhhhh!!

Feel your resilience waning..? If you find out you’re a depressed mom, ketamine can restore. Keep reading…

Your son, who got bored cleaning the bathroom, had gotten distracted with his hamster. Now how to find the hamster?

Kids are just kids. Full of surprises. It takes a sense of humor…

When It Rains It Pours

Meanwhile, you stop in the boys’ room and find your 7 year-old, who was supposed to clean his room after delivering his sleeping bag to the front door, sitting among a pile of Little Golden books. Reading. (What joy!) But apparently he had to go through the entire bookshelf of 43 Little Golden books to find the one he wanted to read. His floor is covered with books he’s tossed.

After sternly instructing him to pick up all his books PRONTO! you realize you better check on your 21 month-old daughter. Distractions can pile up when you’re focusing on packing 3 meals a day for 4 days and you have a houseful of active children…you didn’t notice she wandered off.

Turns out she’s in your bedroom. At first sight, you panic. Is that blood? Her face is covered! What happened??

Upon closer inspection after snatching her up in your arms, you see that it’s not blood. It’s lipstick. Her face is so covered with the stain of it, you know she’ll be raw by the time you get it even partially off.

Then you look at your feet. Your favorite white leather summer bag, and your butter soft cream-colored pumps, have both been painted with lipstick to match.

How thoughtful. Sigh.

The fact that that was a brand new tube of lipstick is now beside the point.

Calamities, Crises, and Catastrophes

Then…sniff, sniff… what is that smell…?

You head for the kitchen, baby girl on your hip, and the kitchen and living area are in a cloud of smoke…then BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!! The smoke alarms.

Run to the stove. OH NO!! The eggs you put on to boil for sandwiches have boiled dry and are burning!!!

Move the pan off the burner. Turn off the burner. Open windows. Gather kids and go outside for fresh air.

You collapse into a lawn chair and watch the kids playing happily in the yard. The classic comic escapades of Calvin and Hobbes comes to mind…

Maybe you’ll just get chicken at the drive-through…?

Add to all of this the challenges of quarantine in a global pandemic! There aren’t words. But you do what you have to do, don’t you?

Motherhood is providing a listening ear, helping with Cub Scouts and Brownies, fighting fevers in the wee hours, encouraging the discouraged, instilling hope, tutoring when homework overwhelms, instructing, providing structure, instilling values, creating celebrations, stretching the budget, inspiring creativity, keeping idle hands occupied, teaching self-reliance, comforting broken hearts, and so much more.

And this is when you’re healthy, resilient, and stable.

But what about when you’re not?

What about when anxiety makes it impossible for you to participate in sports with your child, or Cub Scouts, Brownies, or Blue Birds?

The sheer dread you feel about leaving the house to take your child to these activities and interact with the parents makes it so difficult that you may make it a time or two, but eventually the energy required to push through all that dread and fear leads to missing meetings and practices…if not abandoning it altogether.

To the Depressed Mom: Ketamine Can Restore Your Hope

Then there’s the guilt you feel for failing to give your child every advantage.

What about when PTSD creates such traumatic responses in you that you just can’t leave the house, and find your reactions are terrorizing your children…but you can’t make it stop..?

If you’re a mom with PTSD…or a depressed mom… ketamine can restore your resilience and your hope.

A simple pat on the back when you attend a gathering, or a loud noise in the kitchen…even the deep voice of a stranger… can send you into such terror, sweating, and reactions that, you know, you just feel safer at home.

Or when you just can’t get out of bed… so you get the children to watch TV, because you know at least they’re safe, but it nags at you because you know this isn’t a healthy, carefree way to spend childhood.

But it’s the best you can do.

If you struggle with symptoms like these, and they interfere with the mom you want to be…and if the medicines prescribed by your doctor haven’t helped… there’s hope.

When you’re a depressed mom, ketamine can restore your joy.

Ketamine treatment consists of 6 infusions, give or take, over the course of 2-3 weeks. It’s, hands down, the most effective, innovative treatment for severe depression, social anxiety, PTSD, bipolar depression, and alcohol use disorder.

If you’ve been seeing your doctor and the medicines she’s prescribed have worked to reduce your symptoms, then you’re all set.

But did you know that at least a third of people who have these symptoms are not helped at all by prescription medicines?

That’s where ketamine treatment comes in. It works in the brain in ways these prescribed medications don’t. And its remarkable, even extraordinary, and robust relief is transformative for most of those who receive it.

Ketamine works in multiple ways and in multiple areas in the brain. And it’s fast. So, instead of having to wait weeks or months for a prescription to help you feel better, with ketamine treatment you can feel better in hours or days.

Ketamine turns on mRNA so it will turn on DNA to turboboost BDNF — brain derived neurotrophic factor — that works like a rich compost to trigger the rapid and prolific growth of dendrites and dendritic spines in the neurons in your brain.

This multiplies the synapse connections fast to send signals across your brain, and wake up your emotions. Creativity blooms, quick thinking, solid decision making, initiative, motivation, hope…and joy all come to life and transform your outlook and your productivity.

And you can love life again.

You Don’t Have to Endure Suicidal Thoughts…You Really Don’t

In addition, if you’ve been plagued by suicidal thoughts, it can stop those thoughts in a few hours. Then you can be free to invest in restoring your life, rebuilding your thoughts and infrastructure, and restructuring and strengthening your relationships.

It may sound too good to be true…but if you’re a depressed mom, ketamine can restore the real you, the person who has dreams for yourself and your children, and wants to have the resilience to help them fulfill their dreams.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we enjoy the privilege of watching people walk out with fresh joy and hope every week.

If you’ve struggled with the kinds of symptoms we’ve talked about here, and medicines haven’t helped, call us.

We’re here to help you live well again, to find your joy in life again.

Ketamine doesn’t do this for every single person who receives it –of course not!– because there isn’t any medicine or treatment that helps everyone. But it does amazing things for most. There’s no other treatment currently available that brings relief and restoration so quickly for so many who are so symptomatic — in the privacy of a beautiful office, beginning that afternoon . . .

Discouraged, Depressed Mom? Ketamine Can Restore Your Resilience

You can sing again, experience joy welling up inside you, laugh with your children, and all the things you have wished you could do.

Give yourself the opportunity to feel truly better. Spend this year enjoying your life and your family. We can help you get there.

To the blooming of your best self,

Lori Calabrese, M.D.

May 11, 2020
Student Need for Psychiatric Care on Campus Quadrupled

Mason walked to the student union and plopped down to drink his coffee.

Man, he just wasn’t feeling it. He went to class, but the studying and note taking, and researching all year was getting to him. He just wanted to go to bed and stay there. Just another example of student need for psychiatric care on campus. I’m a statistic, he thought to himself. Great.

It was that time in the semester for another round of exams, and he was worried he couldn’t pass them. He tried to study but it just didn’t stick. He’d go over it and over it…but couldn’t seem to retain much at all.

It’s not like he was partying or anything…he wasn’t doing much of anything social. He didn’t feel like seeing anybody. Just wanted to be alone. So he’d try to study then just lay his book down and turn over and go back to sleep.

Spiring Break was 3 weeks away. Maybe that would help. But he had to pass all his exams before then. What was he going to do? His self-confidence was fading, and he was feeling more and more like a real loser. What was wrong with him?

“Hey Mase! What’s up? Are you going to the campus movie night tonight?”

“No man. I’ve gotta study…” Mason felt like he was lying, because he knew studying wouldn’t help anything. His brain was a lump of cold oatmeal. Useless.

“Oh really? You know we’ve got a study group going for Chemistry, right? You wanna join us?”

“Maybe, man. Where do you meet…? “ He knew he wouldn’t go. He couldn’t handle being around people right now…

“We meet in Greg’s dorm room. At Stratton Hall. 327 Tomorrow after lunch.”

“Thanks man. Maybe I will…”

Depressed or Anxious Students Seek Solitude to Avoid Embarrassment

Mason trudged off toward his dorm before someone else came along to strike up more conversation. He felt like he was dumb as a rock. What had happened to him? It used to be easy to learn. Mason’s self doubts were common for students suffering from disorders. Student need for psychiatric care was weighing down the healthcare system on campus.

Once in his dorm, he sat at his desk and opened his economics book…determined to get something out of it. He opened to the page he was supposed to be reading and started reading.

Then his mind wandered off to an online game he had played last year… the action was really good in it. And it was challenging. He had to really work at making points. There were some cool guys who played… Wonder why they…

Aaackkk!!! Mason realized his mind was wondering again. He put his eyes back on the beginning of that page and started reading again. He read the first half of that page 4 times…and couldn’t recall what it said.

He slammed his book shut and dove into his bed and covered his head with his pillow. And that’s when his roommate walked in talking out loud. Mason pulled another pillow over his head.

If only he could sleep. I mean really sleep. When was the last time he’d actually slept all night? Laying there in the dark, his mind wandering…his worry about school choking him… listening to his roommate snore. How does he do that?? He’s over there sleeping like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

He knew his parents would disown him if he didn’t make the grades. He was so tired…

Student Need for Psychiatric Care on Campus Soars

It’s true. Mason isn’t alone. The Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) at Pennsylvania State University released an annual report in 2018 that showed that student demand for mental health care on 550 university campuses increased by 30-40% between 2009-2015. The increase in enrollment was only 5%.

The primary complaints have been much the same as they’ve always been as students seek counseling for depression, anxiety, and relationship struggles.

And there’s a difference between relationship counseling and student need for psychiatric care due to depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and PTSD.

But, a recent article in Psychiatric News, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, indicated that students carry more distress than they used to, and it’s more upsetting and worrisome to them.

So they tend to take things harder, and if they never struggled before, they still are more likely to struggle in college.

Social Media is Again at Fault

Students now are also tormented by the belief that everyone else around them has a perfect life, and that they’re the only one struggling.

This is largely related to the facade they see on social media. As they internalize these false beliefs, some students succumb to self-doubt and self-hatred, because of these comparisons.

Suicide May Be a Consideration..?

On top of that, suicide has become less implausible…more common place—at least from some students’ perspectives. Obviously, this is a grave concern for campus counseling services. Through surveys, the CCMH has found that suicidal thoughts have increased among students every year for the 8th year in a row.

The reality of it has burdened these organizations to not only train their own staff for suicidal thoughts in students.

They also must train everyone on campus to recognize signs and symptoms and take action… including campus police, professors, residential advisors, librarians, and anyone else whose job includes student contact.

Some campuses focus on meeting the need in more minorities and male students, who tend to avoid mental health services. Other campus are including a counseling office in the campus clinic to make counseling more accessible with less stigma.

At any rate, while all these campuses scramble to provide services their students’ needs, the demand has risen so fast that they remain limited in resources for what they can do.

Meanwhile, more intervention is needed. The demand overwhelms the system.

Many of These Suffering Students Can Achieve Remission Off Campus

Many of these students are diagnosed for the first time with depressive or anxiety disorders in college. But many more were diagnosed years earlier, and have been undergoing treatment before college. The increased pressure and demands of college often push them into more severe symptoms.

For these who’re being treated before they enter college, or for whom treatment has become inadequate, a very real option can be IV ketamine treatment. When medicines are no longer helping, or never did, IV ketamine infusions can relieve symptoms dramatically.

The lack of energy, the struggle to learn, the despair, can be replaced by motivation, initiative, and the creativity to study and perform once again.

The restoration of brain circuitry, and proliferation of structures in the brain can rapidly build the resilience to embrace school again.

On top of that, suicidal thoughts or behaviors can be eradicated in an afternoon with IV ketamine treatment. It’s a remarkable way to reverse suicidal thoughts, so a student can focus on getting better.

IV Ketamine Can Transform Students and Reduce Student Need for Psychiatric Care on Campus

At Innovative Psychiatry, we see students like this regain their joy and hope after IV ketamine treatment and walk out with confidence. IV ketamine treatment can lift your student’s outlook and energy. Despair can become hope, and listlessness can turn into purpose-driven initiative.

That sullen student can wake up with new ideas, energy to socialize, and a song he’s singing.

This treatment can be transformative. And the more ill your child is, the more powerfully it seems to work.

If your child sounds like Mason, or if his symptoms are even worse, call us.

And if you can relate to Mason’s story, and don’t know where to turn for help, call us… we want to help you rediscover your creativity, energy for work, relationships, and fun. We want to see your hope restored.

Don’t let something like your education or your future fall by the wayside. You don’t have to because you do have options.

Let us help you live again with joy.

To the restoration of your best self,

February 17, 2020
Fighting Meanness, Hatred, and Cyberbullying in Schools

We recently talked about the prominence of depression in teen girls.

And the fact that it’s rising at a faster rate than depression in teen boys. We also talked about the impact of social media on growing and developing preteens and teens. But let’s talk a little more about the meanness and bullying that is perpetrated over social media. Where it comes from… and what can be done about fighting meanness, hatred, and cyberbullying among our youth.

Meanness is often a symptom of unresolved emotional issues. At least, that’s what psychotherapist Peter Michaelson says, and I agree with him. He describes meanness as a repetitive behavior that can be difficult to remedy without deeper insight.

The meanness may be a one-time remark that’s hurtful. Or it may be habitual, purposeful criticism and intimidation. Either way, it can cause damage that keeps on delivering for many years to come.

It’s true that thoughtless comments may not necessarily be fueled by meanness. They may be unfiltered observations made by one child to another, without realizing the painful sting the words cause.

“Your teeth look like a rabbit,” a fifth grader might say to another. The speaker, because of age, may not realize the recipient actually feels painfully self-conscious about her teeth. Comments like this can reverberate for a lifetime, but they don’t usually cause despair and depression.

However, if the same comment were made over and over by friends and classmates online and in person, it would hurt. And if it was passed around on Instagram or Snapchat with photoshopped pictures of the child, it could even be traumatic. Then, if the photos compared him to a rabbit eating a slice of cabbage, the hurt, ridicule, and betrayal he might feel could trigger something worse.

Teaching the Difference in Thoughtlessness and Meanness

We want to help our children learn to be sensitive and considerate of the feelings of others — and also help them cope with thoughtless remarks of others that aren’t intended to offend.

We live in a world where things like this happen. But this is simpler than fighting the meanness, hatred, and cyberbullying our older children contend with every day.

Instagram and Snapchat – For Good or Evil

The increase in the hostile culture that has grown up around our teens seems to have erupted in cadence with social media platforms. From MySpace, to Facebook, to Instagram, Snapchat, and scores of others, people of all ages have increased their use of these platforms to stay up to date with family and friends.

While some studies reveal that many people feel these digital platforms improve their relationships by giving them more context about the lives of those they care about, other studies show that use of them reduces face to face contact with the people in their lives who matter.

But for teens, social media is perceived as being a necessary part of their social life, and school life, as well.

Revealing Study about Social Media

Kasperksy Lab conducted a global study measuring the impact of social media use on our personal lives and relationships. It revealed that about 1/3 of social media users communicate less with their parents, their partners, their children, and their friends because they follow them on social media and just keep up by reading.

Since social media profiles and posts tend to show those things people want the world to see, their profiles seem ideal, often generating negative feelings like jealousy and resentment in their followers.

Nearly 60% of respondents in the study (which included 16,750!) admitted that they believed their friends lived better lives than they did, based on their posts. 59% felt hurt or angry when someone posted a critical comment on their profile. And almost half expressed their pain after seeing their friend’s holiday photos online.

And only 31% said they weren’t bothered by the number of likes they receive.

Teens Feel the Impact of Instagram and Snapchat Most Deeply

Nowhere is this more true than among preteens and teens, whose developing views of others and the world are being molded by interaction on digital platforms.

And while some teens feel more closely connected to their friends and their friends’ feelings through these platforms, many more feel trapped by them.

Once they’ve been bullied, they report that they’re afraid to close out their account because they know others will continue to talk about them …. and they want to know what they’re saying.

Fighting meanness, hatred, and cyberbullying in our teens’ social culture is vital, though daunting.

Because of the impact this distorted social environment is having on kids today, it’s important to think outside the box to find strategies that can serve as rudders to change the course and help our children choose healthier and safer methods of relationship building.

Small Rural School Set Out to Find Solutions

One school in a rural community in New Hampshire has set out to find ways to guide their students in developing a healthier social environment. Their story was published in The Atlantic early in 2017.

Pittsfield, NH is a community of around 4600 residents and a school for both middle school and high school in one building, about 260 students in all.

One 14 year-old we’ll call Tori, received a snapchat (or Snap, as they say now) of a picture of her from behind taking notes in class. The caption read, “I literally hate you. You’re a round cereal box.”

The screenshot circulated, and soon everyone was calling her Cereal Box. She’s a petite girl with neat braids, and rarely drew this type of meanness. Plus, knowing who sat behind her in that class made the task of figuring out who sent the message pretty simple.

Public Attacks Hurt

But, even though the name-calling (what’s a round cereal box anyway?) didn’t seem to target anything she was insecure about, the fact that someone told her, “I literally hate you” stung. And why? She had had no interaction with this girl to speak of…certainly nothing negative.

She wondered why the girl didn’t just tell her she hated her, rather than broadcasting it to the whole world.

And it made her so uncomfortable that she realized how much attacks like this must hurt those who were often targets of meanness and hatred.

When she told her parents about it, they encouraged her to go straight to this girl and confront her directly without texting or social media retaliation. Wise parents. Brave girl.

When she did, the girl looked at her with a look that said, Sooo? What did I do?

And herein lies the problem.

This distortion in social interaction hasn’t taught kids productive ways to cope with the feelings they have. Instead, lashing out on social media has just become an accepted method …no matter who it hurts.

Student-Directed Programs Prove the Most Successful In Fighting Meanness, Hatred, and Cyberbullying

One teacher at Pittsfield sponsored a group known as Drop the Drama, a name coined by the students. It started out with 5, and soon grew to 20. Students work together to look for more productive ways of interacting than social media, and more positive responses geared at inclusiveness as opposed to exclusion.

Their belief is that a small group of students with a passion for change can impact the entire student body far better than any lecture or workbook presented by adults.

The administration plays an important role here: they take a survey among the students at the beginning of each year to find out how happy, how content, and how safe the students feel in the learning environment. They were disappointed to see a sharp decline in recent years.

But they’re hoping to see the surveys report improvements at the beginning of next year as these new programs have time to improve the social environment.

Tori, our friend they called a Cereal Box, decided to be proactive, rather than letting the hurt of the experience continue to torment her. She went with her dad to the grocery store, and posed with a box of Fruity Pebbles. Her dad snapped a photo of her which she in turn posted on Instagram.

The caption read: “Cuz I’m a box of cereal. LOL”

By owning the name, the original offense lost its power to hurt her. And she didn’t need to hurt anyone else to make herself feel better. The teacher who sponsored Drop the Drama was so proud of her.

And Tori is determined to help so many other wounded students to recover. She believes through Drop the Drama she can help them turn the negatives into positives on campus.

ADULTS Provide the Support When Teens Work to Change Their Culture

In our busy world of packed schedules, we listen to our teens talk about their crises. (Car talks are a good place for this.) And we feel helpless to change the culture.

But, the meanness our children are faced with every day is desperately in need of intervention. Dramatic change is needed in every city and township, and in every middle school and high school.

In every one. And in everyone.

In Pittsfield, the administration developed a program to begin in elementary school with training for responding to uncomfortable feelings like jealousy and anger, and to do so without hurting others in the process.

There are as many ways to fight meanness, hatred, and cyberbullying as there are people to think of them!

To prepare them to view social media in a mature way, and to protect themselves from inappropriate “drama.” To help each other, and to rise above those who lash out with hurt. And to defend each other.

The program continues into middle and high school.

In addition, the Drop the Drama group is reaching out to the student body to support change. They’re encouraging them to use kindness, promote inclusiveness, and face-to-face interaction.

We talked about a school in an earlier post, where students were moved by a string of 6 suicides. They developed a program to befriend anyone who seemed to be isolated, depressed, or lonely.

This new perspective quickly spread through the student body fighting meanness, hatred, and cyberbullying.

This student-promoted policy has created a social atmosphere that has become more warm, inviting, and safe for students overall. As a result the students bounce back from offenses and embarrassment more easily because of the supportive environment.

What ideas do you have for your child’s school?

Innovative Psychiatry Provides IV Ketamine for Teen Crises

Sometimes students who’ve been traumatized by meanness and bullying become depressed. In fact, sometimes they see no way to go on with their lives and they even want to die.

IV ketamine treatment can end suicidal thoughts very quickly so those teens can be helped with ongoing treatment — sometimes psychotherapy, sometimes medication. And in those cases where medications don’t seem to help, we offer novel and advanced treatments like IV ketamine treatment in a beautiful and relaxing office setting.

Our teens and our children need the opportunity to develop in healthy ways. To be immersed in balanced and friendly environments to learn healthy interaction skills.

And so, we want to see an environment develop where kids and teens learn to lead by EXAMPLE rather than dysfunction. Where they can join forces to forge an inviting world … to bond, interact, collaborate, and reach out to those in pain.

An environment where they can learn to be caring, compassionate, and responsible as they mature to adulthood.

Life Can Be Joyful. You Can Have Hope…

If you continue to suffer after taking traditional medications that haven’t helped, call us. If you have a teenager who seems to continue to suffer in spite of trials with medications, do call us. We want to help.

The medicines available to help patients with severe depression, bipolar depression, PTSD, social anxiety, substance use disorders, or suicidal thoughts, only help some people some of the time.

IV ketamine treatment is more rapid — and for many, much more effective. Even when other medicines fail, when words can’t reach you, when TMS doesn’t work, when you’ve done ECT. (Our own published research shows that.)

Not perfectly, not always. But it can help a lot more people a lot more often than the other treatments we’ve had available. It works in a variety of ways in your brain so you can feel dramatically better. And it’s fast.

If you or someone you love needs a more effective treatment, IV ketamine treatment can restore your joy. And your relationships, your creativity, and your hope can be rejuvenated. It can give you the energy to invest in things you’d lost interest in.

Let us help you find your best self, and your best life again. It’s your turn.

To the restoration of your best self,

January 27, 2020
Why is Depression in Teen Girls Increasing So Fast??

Juliette stopped in her tracks.

She could see from halfway down the hall that her locker had been trashed. Covered with photos, markings, and fake blood, it looked like a crime scene. As she got closer, she could see printed photos someone had taken of her while she was dressing in P.E. She ran to the locker and yanked off and crumpled the photos as fast as she could. (With friends like this, it’s no wonder there’s a rise in depression in teen girls.)

As she stood staring at her locker frozen, her face burning with humiliation, she couldn’t think… Then, in one sweeping motion, she pulled all the trash off her locker door and wadded it up.

Only then did she look up and see the bystanders, the sidelong glances, and hear the snickering muffled giggles of her “friends” gathered around watching.

She grabbed her books, slammed her locker door and shot off to class.

Juliette sank into her seat, head down, heart-broken, and wondered why?? Who did this and why?

She felt betrayed, angry, heartsick. And abandoned.

She didn’t say a word for the rest of the day, just kept her head down and shot out the front door when the bell rang to go home.

Her mom was waiting outside, and Juliette jumped in the car, put her face on her lap and said, “Drive!”

“What’s the matter, Jules?” Her mom was alarmed. She’d never seen her 13 year-old like this.

“Just drive.”

So her mom put the car in gear and did.

Teen Trauma Triggered by Ridicule and Humiliation

Once home, Juliette flew upstairs, slammed her door, and locked it. She dug her phone out of her purse for the first time since she saw the locker. Two hundred and thirteen messages. She wondered if there might be apologies… so she opened one …then another.

NO apologies. Total strangers making jokes, rows of laughing faces, some even calling her crude names. The photos she saw on her locker had gone viral. All over Instagram, Pinterest, facebook…

Her friends were silent.

She thought she would die. How could she ever show her face in that school again? She could never leave her room again. She covered her head and sobbed.

“Jules..? Honey, are you OK? Did something happen?”

“Mom, I just want to be alone.”

This isn’t something my parents can help with. I’m alone with this nightmare, she thought.

So a traumatic experience begins to fester…

Scenes like this aren’t uncommon if you have kids. You got her into ballet at 3, then gymnastics at 5, then soccer at 7. Always hoping to help her gain confidence in herself, to help make the transitions of childhood to adolescence, and adolescence to adulthood advance more smoothly. To help her develop an anchor within herself that would see her though the storms, and the things that others did.

And your happy, socially-balanced child does great with her activities, her friends, slumber parties, and sports events.

Until the day she’s publicly humiliated.

The humiliation can happen on Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites. It can happen in text messaging. Or it can happen at school and at slumber parties.

And, while the cruel embarrassments and humiliations children and teens impose on each other are terrible — and seem almost insurmountable for some students– it’s what follows if they can’t get past it that can be life-threatening.

Believe it.

Depression in Teen Girls Can Be Deadly

Sometimes, what we parents see is a child, preteen, or adolescent, who is acting differently. Who won’t talk to us. Since we don’t know what they’ve faced at school, we may be clueless about the trauma they’re experiencing. We may think they’re just being moody teenagers.

Sadly, the trauma may cause such a deep pain that they can’t find words to “get it off their chest…” So they may isolate, huddle, and try to figure out how to cope on their own.

An experience like Juliette endured isn’t usually a single event. There’s the aftermath. Someone in her shoes may skip school for a few days until she can muster the courage to step out and go again. But even when they do go, there are whispers, snickers, more text messages.

And sometimes even more incidents that go from bad to worse.

The stress continues, long after we parents think it should be over.

Or we may never know it happened in the first place.

And as we often talk about, prolonged severe stress can result in that pruning of the dendrites and dendritic spines that destroys synaptic connections between brain cells. And depending on how severe the pruning is, and how long it continues… the outcome is often depression.

“But she’s a kid…” you may think. “She doesn’t have severe stress. How could she?”

It’s an unfortunate miscalculation to think that a child can’t experience severe stress. Her world is her reality. And she’s been building that world since she can remember. If everything that makes her world a warm and inviting place of support, caring, and acceptance is disassembled and left in shambles, then her world is shattered.

And as her parents, you can’t fix it.

That’s not to say you can’t be a comfort and a support. But no one can fix her world for her but herself. A pretty daunting task for a devastated 13 year-old.

It turns out that teen depression rates have been increasing for years, but the rate of depression in girls is rising faster than it is in boys.

Teen Depression is Threatening Our Children

Girls and boys. But is there difference in how much and how often it strikes? Why are teen girls becoming depressed more often than boys?

For one thing, by the age of 15, girls are actually twice as likely to become depressed as boys. It’s surprising, isn’t it? …but there are reasons.

The smart phone, for instance. By the mid 90’s, both boys and girls were using them. And those babies born by then were the first generation to live out their entire lives in the age of smart phones. Those babies are 25 this year.

Let’s hear from those young women, shall we?

A team of researchers analyzed 3 surveys that included 200,000 females in the US and the UK. And…they learned some things.

For example:

Fill a classroom with 25 teens, and give them the freedom to use their smart phones. Then, walk up and down the aisles and glance at their screens. You know what you’ll see, first thing?

They’re not doing the same things.

The boys are playing games… on their smart phones, or talking about sports, and texting each other about the games.

The girls? They’re texting, and on social media. What are they texting about ? Their appearance, their clothes, their hair…and someone else’s appearance, clothes, and hair.

And when one sends off a text, she’s reassured that she’s accepted when she receives a response right back. No pauses.

If there’s a pause before she receives a response…because maybe the other girl is in the restroom, or is carrying too much in her arms to text easily, the first girl begins to feel dismissed.

Anxiety rises.

And that knee-jerk reaction happens over and over and over, day and night, month after month…year after year.

Hurt Feelings, Misunderstandings, Feeling Left Out

Now, add to that the pecking order on social media platforms. The girl with 8 likes is shamed when compared to the girls with 500 likes and shares. And don’t kid yourself. Those comparisons are made. Ruthlessly.

Images that create a fantasy of one girl’s life lead to others feeling ashamed of their “plain” homes, clothes, and activities. None of this is grounded in the real world. But then smart phones and social media have little to do with the real world.

The pressure is intense enough that one study found that girls who compare themselves to other girls on social media were more likely to be depressed.

And get this: in 2017, a full one-fifth of teen girls said they’re suffering from major depression. One Fifth!

Then, there are the cruel “jokes” some girls play on others, where messages, videos taken without permission, and compromising photos are sent out and go viral. And young girls become convinced there is no remedy to restore their lives after such exposure, and at the tender age of 10, or 12, or 14… they end their lives.

So is it all social media? No.

Don’t boys use social media? Yes, they do.

But these researchers also found that social media and the interactions there have a stronger effect on girls than boys.

They found that 15% of girls who were on social media only 30 minutes a day, due to other activities, family rules, etc, were unhappy. But 26% of girls who were on social media 6 hours a day were unhappy.

Now let’s look at the boys. Only 11% of the boys who were on social media 30 minutes a day were unhappy. And those boys who were on social media 6 hours a day? Only 18% of them were unhappy.

So what is it about girls that more of them seem to succumb to depression from social media?

Researchers found it was that being popular, and having positive interactions with others is tied to their sense of satisfaction, happiness, and confidence.

Social media can either build up the social ties a teen girl enjoys, or it can destroy them through bullying, shame, and conflict.

And we can’t forget that pressures about image and appearance continue to increase at this age…

Now… what can parents do?

One obvious step might be to postpone your child’s access to social media. That message is being disseminated by experts on adolescent mental health far and wide.

While it’s illegal for a child to have a social media profile before the age of 13, parents might consider extending a moratorium on social media use longer than that.

The social pressure among teens to excel on social media is not aimed at their growth, self-confidence, or character, but is actually designed to pull them into an addictive activity.

We all know Mark Zuckerberg as co-founder of facebook. But do you know Sean Parker? He joined Zuckerberg 5 months after Facebook was launched as a student directory, and Zuckerberg credits him with the phenomenal growth it enjoyed. Which made him a billionaire.

Referring to facebook, Parker said,“It’s a social-validation feedback loop … exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”

He went on to say that social media like Facebook “…literally changes your relationship with society, with each other. It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains,” he said.

Children aren’t equipped with the life experience or brain development to see these sites for what they are. Rather, they’re swept up in the tidal wave that is adolescence and the need for social acceptance at probably the most vulnerable time of their lives.

As parents, they need us to be proactive, to give them time to develop the life skills to keep such activities in their place.

They need time to just grow, physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. To develop healthy relationships with their peers, and to survive their preteens, teens, and early adulthood so they can go on to become the best they can be.

Depression in Teen Girls Needs to Slow Down. Let’s Do Something.

Would this approach prevent depression in girls?

No, no, of course not. But it just might protect your daughter from depression. And maybe her friends. And maybe some of their friends.

By finding opportunities to get your daughters talking with their friends about the dangers and risks of social media, and using text messaging less… and in more responsible ways… perhaps we can open their eyes. And a lot of others.

Maybe that could go viral.

Maybe a new culture could emerge where our daughters lived well, and survived their own adolescence… and could go on to have daughters of their own.

After all, that’s what we want for them, right?

Ketamine For Treatment Resistant Disorders

If your daughter — or son — has developed depression, and medicines aren’t helping, call us. Let’s talk about IV ketamine treatment — which shows a much higher response rate than antidepressants.

The sooner your teen’s disorder is treated and relieved, the sooner her resilience is restored, the better equipped she (or he) will be to tackle the life issues she faces as she grows to adulthood.

Depression in teen girls is increasing, but we’re not powerless to fight it. Let’s work together to turn the tide on disorders that result from things like the intense stress of social media.

And if your teen is struggling without relief, learn about IV ketamine treatment. It’s saving lives.

To the restoration of your best self…and your teen’s,

To the restoration of your best self,

January 20, 2020
The Teen Suicide Epidemic – What You Can Do

Sam Chaney walked up to the quiet car in the dark.

It was a place by the lake frequented by teens for romantic interludes, or beer drinking. This car was dark. Silent. But running. He tapped on the window with a bit of anxiety. He’d just been reading about the teen suicide epidemic this morning.

“Hello – Metro police! Open the door please…”

Silence.

Tap tap tap…”Open up!”

Nothing.

Sam stepped back and looked at the car. Only then did he see the rags stuffed into the exhaust.

“Oh no….”

After trying to open the door, Sam used his baton to break the glass. The choking odor of exhaust wafted into his face. Carbon monoxide…

Inside the car he saw the lifeless bodies of four teenagers. One looked to be no older than 14.

Immediately he called for emergency personnel and then pulled each body out onto the ground in the fresh air.

One by one he checked their pulses. Nothing.

Instinctively, he did 15 chest compressions, then breathed twice into the mouth of each one. Then 15 more.

After the first one, he moved on to the next, then to the next. Their bodies were cold.

What is Causing the Teen Suicide Epidemic?

The suicide rate in teenagers has increased 56% since 2007. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) And even though the homicide rate in teens decreased 23% between 2007 and 2014, it increased again 18% between 2014 and 2017. Even so, the suicide rate has now surpassed the homicide rate in teenagers.

Suicide deaths in teens are also higher than accidental deaths such as transportation crashes or drug overdoses. These accidents represent the 3rd leading cause of death in people aged 10-24. But suicide has risen to the 2nd leading cause of death in teenagers.

Why??

We don’t really know. There are so many reasons. So many factors. Depression rates in children and teens have increased; in fact, they’ve increased across all age groups. Increased drug use has led to increased overdoses, too.

But a big factor seems to be embedded in the dramatic increase of social media use among this age group. This is a generation who has cut their teeth on facebook, instagram, and pinterest. Add to that Yelp, where they feel free to blast a restaurant with criticism every time they eat, just for the sport of it.

A Forum for Speaking One’s Mind – Uncensored and Unsupervised

In short, social media has allowed them to speak their mind, which isn’t necessarily bad. But to speak it without a filter aimed at diplomacy or compassion. We all know it’s easier to say something critical in writing than face to face. And during the teen years, insecurity is often considered hidden by cruelty to others.

Because of this un-squelched form of communication, privacy has taken a hit, too. A middle schooler catches someone in an awkward situation and sends the photo or video to his contact list. In seconds, a fragile, shy, insecure 13 year-old is publicly humiliated with nowhere to hide.

Darwin’s theory about the survival of the fittest is reduced to survival of the ones who dish out the most cruelty without falling prey to the same treatment.

For a child or teenager, the teen suicide epidemic seems daunting and intimidating. Her life experience or capacity to cope with such public shame is painfully limited, if not utterly lacking. And the under-developed prefrontal cortex in her brain prevents her ability to see such a crisis in the “big picture,” –that is, the idea that this too shall pass. Impulsivity can then win out …with a decision so permanent that all that’s left is the grieving.

Far too many of the children and teens who have taken their lives, had been reporting bullying. When circumstances didn’t change, they seemed to feel it was left up to them to stand against the assaults and onslaughts by themselves. And eventually, they may have become weary.

Chronic Stress Causes Pruning of Signaling Structures = Depression

We know what chronic stress does to the circuitry in the brain. Eventually, the synapses break down, dendrites become pruned…and depression ensues.

So a depressed person is more vulnerable to suicidal thoughts…images… and even action.

And there’s another factor.

Too often, as teens become depressed, they grow silent. They withdraw.

At Herriman High School in Utah, a total of 6 students ended their lives in a single year.

After each successive death occurred, the teachers, administrative staff, and parents became increasingly desperate to do something to prevent more.

The students, as well, experienced increased anxiety, overwhelm, and concern that students around them were suffering but no one knew who was at risk.

Parents Seek Answers for the Teen Suicide Epidemic

Parents spoke of the need to teach their children to talk about their feelings, and how things are going, from an early age. The mother of a boy who died said that she had no idea her son was struggling. She just thought he was being a normal teenager. She said, “We need to give them the ability to talk! And I think we’ve missed that along the way.”

As a result, both students and administration initiated programs to help everyone cope with their own anxiety and grief, and to also encourage everyone to reach out to anyone who seemed to be alone, isolated, or struggling.

QPR

In this atmosphere of tragedy, communication became a key focus. Since the parents of some who died recalled that their child had seemed withdrawn, spending long hours alone and talking very little, the students and staff learned to watch for withdrawal in any student. They developed a code: QPR. Similar to CPR, QPR is specific for saving the life of someone who’s suicidal.

Photo by Rachel Lynette French on Unsplash

Q stands for Question. They realized that people who are struggling may wish they could talk to someone, but maybe they don’t know what to say. In fact, they may not realize they’re struggling as much as feeling “off.” So the strategy they developed is to be bold enough to ask questions.

“Hi, would you like to sit with us?”

“How are you…?”

“You don’t seem to be feeling very well. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Are you at a point that you’re going to harm yourself?”

For teenagers, who struggle to talk at all, this initiative requires a brutal bravery, but as they weigh the awkwardness against the loss of life, they find they can push past the nervousness, and just ask.

P stands for Persuade. It means pushing through your own feelings to focus on the feelings of another. Then persuading that person to trust you enough to accept your invitation…answer your questions…consider solutions…

R stands for Refer. Part of the P in Persuade includes persuading the person to accept help and treatment: the solutions. It means including parents, the school counselor, and outside psychiatric help, as well.

Students refer to QPR as a useful tool for fighting the teen suicide epidemic and also for the helplessness they’ve felt as they’ve heard the announcement of each student who died. They feel armed with a way to help stop the deaths, and to know they’re doing something.

Joining Forces to Save Lives

Just as this high school pulled together to close the gap between hurting teens and everyone else, we can do the same.

To approach those who seem to struggle and dare to get your hands dirty. Dare to ask the questions. Then listen. Then work together with them to help them get treatment and to be safe.

Lots of Help is Available

But start with a comprehensive psychiatric — find the best doctor you can to do the best job they can to pull together all the pieces, all the stressors, all the symptoms. To diagnose and to offer treatment — rapidly.

And to present options and reasonable choices for treatment, the evidence for each, and the speed of response: medications, different talk therapies, TMS, and IV ketamine.

Speed is critical if you’re trying to save a life.

IV Ketamine Treatment works fast to Restore Brain Circuitry

So often, anguish is missed. Overlooked. Or it just doesn’t lift even with the first or second (or third) thing you’ve tried.

We see the end-results of anguish every day when everything breaks down: depression, anxiety, self-loathing, withdrawl. Loss of interest. Loss of eye contact. You don’t even smile anymore. (Or when you do, it’s phony.)

If you feel like this, or if someone you love feels like this, if treatment isn’t working, know that there is hope. You can feel better, you can repair and rebuild the circuitry that will allow that. And it can happen fast.

We know, because we’ve published our own results in a peer-reviewed journal.

IV ketamine treatment specializes in rebuilding broken down dendrites and dendritic spines — it turns on mRNA to switch on DNA to turbo-boost Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and those dendrites and synapses just explode in new growth. Repairing and restoring the circuitry, and giving you joy, initiative, motivation, energy, … and hope.

Once repair gets underway, your brain can transmit signals along those repaired and restored pathways. Your brain lights up, and your eyes light up with it.

There are solutions.

And even if your insurance doesn’t cover this extraordinary treatment yet, there is financing to help you pay for it. And there are voices clamoring for it to be covered because it can stop suicidal thinking. It can turn around that trip to the ER and make it unnecessary. It can help avoid the need for hospitalization.

Not always. But most of the time.

If you’re interested in seeing whether IV ketamine treatment might be an option for you, call us.

We’ll work with you, your doctor, your therapist, and your family, to help you feel better, function better, and really enjoy the details of your life again. If it’s been a really long time since you felt that way, you’re probably going to be astounded. Because the longer you’ve been ill without relief, and the more severe your symptoms are, the better IV ketamine treatment may work for you. It’s funny that way. It’s a bit of a show-off.

Let us help you find yourself, your creativity, and your heart again.

To the restoration of your best self,

Lori Calabrese, M.D.

We can all help prevent suicide. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, as well as prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

The Veterans Crisis Line and Military Crisis Line 1-800-273-8255 Press 1

Crisis Text Line: 741-741 Free text hotline 24/7

October 21, 2019
Why Are Young Girls Turning to Suicide?

It’s a heart-shattering tragedy when a child dies.

How do you bear such tragedy? …such loss? The waste of a beautiful life…it defies our logic to find reason in it, or to try to make sense of it. But what about when that young child kills herself? Why are young girls turning to suicide?

It’s impossible to grasp. You’re left with the most engulfing sense of powerlessness. And loss…

And it’s heartbreaking to say this horrific tragedy hasn’t happened just once. The numbers are growing. And all too fast.

It’s always been more common for boys to commit suicide than girls, but the number of girls who end their lives is rapidly rising to close the gap. But let’s be real…any child’s suicide is devastating. And any suicide is, too. We’re talking about suicide in little girls, teen girls, and young women.

You wonder why.

Why Are Young Girls Turning to Suicide?

The specific reasons haven’t been studied yet, but Christine Moutier, Chief Medical Officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, stresses that multiple factors play a role in suicide. Still, she suggests that a significant contributor may be social media.

And more specifically, cyberbullying on social media.

So even though we know that friendships are a high priority to young teens, and the way children and teens socialize is largely centered in social media, it’s also a source of isolation, cruelty, and bullying.

At the age of 10 or 11, many children just aren’t prepared to withstand the verbal and emotional assaults they experience there.

Now, let’s take it a step further.

Since an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, how can these painful social media experiences be prevented for young girls? Let’s think about that.

Maybe there’s wisdom in postponing children’s online presence..?

A study presented at the American Pediatric Association in 2017 focused on cell phone ownership and cyberbullying in 8-11 year olds. Researchers collected data from surveys with 4584 children of this age group between 2014 and 2016.

They found that 9.5 % of these children who own cell phones had been cyber-bullied.

Nearly 50% of the children surveyed reported owning a cell phone. Throughout this age group, there were more children who owned cell phones who also participated in cyber bullying than those who didn’t own a cell phone.

So, again, while cyberbullying is not the only factor influencing the rising incidence of suicide among young girls, it’s an important factor…and one parents can do something about.

Extensive lessons on the responsibility and etiquette of owning a phone might be the obvious first step. Teaching morality and ethics to your child around the use of the phone should be an imperative about treating others with dignity and respect — whether face-to-face or online.

Two world leaders of technology held a healthy respect for the power of online presence, as well as its dangers. The late Steve Jobs limited his own kids’ use of screen technology, and would not allow them to use an iPad when it came out.

Bill Gates and his wife did not allow their children to have cell phones until they reached the age of 14.

Michael Cheng, a Canadian child and family psychiatrist, says that smart phone use at a very young age is damaging to developing brains. Damaging. The constant stimulation from the screen draws dopamine hits easily. This short-cuts the reward center and sets the stage for addiction to those rewards.

How much easier is it to stay online, play games, text back and forth for those rewarding bumps of dopamine, than to go outside, play ball, go fishing, ride bikes … to get the same amount of reward. Why work for that reward if you can get it without leaving your chair?

Dr. Cheng also points out that children learn social skills face-to-face in real life settings. They learn how to read expressions and develop empathy, how to respect friendships and respect themselves.

If their social interaction takes place digitally, they miss learning the nuances of human interaction, while learning to rely too heavily on the acceptance of others online.

They need fresh air and sunshine, imagination and play, camaraderie and boundaries so that their brains develop well.

So, with that said, let’s consider children who end their lives. Children who are bullied at school and online.

Why ARE Young Girls Turning to Suicide…? And What Can Be Done?

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in people between the ages of 10 and 34. Suicides have replaced homicides as the second leading cause of death in teenagers. While more boys than girls end their lives, more girls describe thinking about suicide, considering it, and attempt it.

You may be familiar with the story of 9-year-old McKensie Adams who hung herself after enduring a year of bullying by other students… After reporting this abuse to parents, teachers, and a vice principal, she found a tragic solution. At 9.

Or maybe you heard about 10-year-old Ashawnty Davis, who defended herself in a physical brawl on school grounds as part of an extended bullying campaign. Someone videoed the altercation, and the video went viral. Two weeks later Ashawnty hung herself in her closet.

Or 10-year-old Kevin Reese, Jr., who hung himself in a closet when he reached his limit of bullying at school.

These are just the stories in the news. Stories that have received wide attention. As well they should. But there are so many more that are the grief of a school and a family wherever they happen.

Watch for the Signs

Here are some warning signs to watch for: Is your child feeling overwhelmed with school work? Is she experiencing cyberbullying? In fact, if she’s spending much time on social media she may be increasing her risks… Are there problems within the family? And is she faced with bullying? (or is she being a bully?)

It turns out that some children who have been bullied become a bully themselves. Either behavior adds to their suicidal risk.

You, her parent, need daily input from your child, including really listening and responding. They must know they have your support. Isolation can be a killer.

These girls reported they were subjected to bullying for long periods of time — but maybe they felt they had to be strong and endure it when nothing changed..?

When people in authority didn’t intervene or make them feel safe, these girls —who were happy at home — made a plan and died. Some left notes for their parents, some didn’t. So maybe this is a part of the answer to that question, “why are young girls turning to suicide?” Maybe they thought it was the only solution left.

These Children and Teens Need to Be Reminded We Have Their Back

This is an age when bullying has become the norm. Children are bullied for their race, their faith, their name, their clothes, their friends, their car, their food, and their health.

In most cases, the children doing the bullying are often releasing tension from their own private lives. And are quick to say they never intended for their victim to want to die.

So it’s the parents and teachers who are their best advocates. Be sure there is a record of your report when you inform the school of any bullying you hear about from your child. Prepare yourself for mediation with the other child’s parents so that child’s parents can participate in resolving the problem, as well as teachers, counselors and maybe even a principal.

Be aware that the problem of bullying is rampant. And the rise in suicides, especially among girls, is nearing epidemic proportions, so we just mustn’t assume all is well.

Pay close attention to your child and her/his responses to what happens at school or in the neighborhood. Be aware that children do look for escapes from their pain if they can’t find a solution to their situation on their own or by reporting to people in authority.

Get Ahead of the Potential for Problems

Do be proactive…Don’t assume that things are taken care of at their school. In many cases where a child died, the school had no report of bullying on file. You’re the best advocate your child has. Be involved, engaged, and stay in touch to ensure there are remedies put in place for the bullying.

The most important thing you can do is to encourage open discussions every day with your child about what she’s facing. So you’ll always know when something is going wrong.

As we said before, this applies to both boys and girls. There are still more boys ending their lives than girls, and all children need to feel safe.

So why are young girls turning to suicide? Maybe sometimes it’s because of what’s happening to them.

Suicidal Thinking Can Be Treated Before It’s Too Late

Here at Innovative Psychiatry, we treat teens who who are plagued by suicidal thinking with IV ketamine treatment when they’re as young as 14. You should seek the care of a child psychiatrist for your child who’s younger than 14 and who’s struggling with these thoughts.

IV ketamine can stop suicidal thoughts or plans within a few hours. Sometimes much faster. It’s a way to keep your teen safe from suicide while you have the time to help him or her sort out whatever is going wrong at school or at home or inside.

Even though we don’t treat children in this practice, the bully/suicide trend in children is alarming and heartbreaking. We need to be aware that children are facing things now that earlier generations didn’t. This is even being called “bullycide” in some communities.

If you (or your family member) suffers from the torment of suicidal thoughts, call us. Let’s work together to help you find peace from those thoughts, a renewed hope, and give you the opportunity set order in place in your life.

You can feel safe again, and experience joy again, and find the motivation and initiative to build the life you want to live.

To the release of your best self,

Lori Calabrese, MD

August 26, 2019
Ketamine isn’t an opioid and treats depression in a unique way, says Johns Hopkins expert

In scientific journal letter, Hopkins psychiatrist Adam Kaplin disputes a study claiming ketamine is an opioid.

Ketamine has gotten a bad reputation as an opioid—when there’s plenty of evidence suggesting it isn’t one, say Johns Hopkins experts. They believe this misconception may prevent patients from getting necessary treatment for the kinds of depression that don’t respond to typical antidepressants.

In a letter to the editor published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the researchers clarify how ketamine works in hopes of restoring the therapy’s standing among health care professionals and the public.

“A study done late last year delivered a black eye to ketamine, and as a result of the coverage, there was a wholesale acceptance by both potential patients and physicians that ketamine is an opioid,” says Adam Kaplin, Assistant Pofessor of Pychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “This is most worrisome if people continue to think this way, particularly in the wake of the opioid epidemic; clinicians won’t refer patients for a treatment, despite that it has been shown to be incredibly effective for many patients with treatment-resistant depression.”

In late 2018, researchers at Stanford University and Palo Alto University showed that naltrexone—a drug used to reverse accidental opioid overdoses by binding to opioid receptors in the brain—also blocks the antidepressant effects of ketamine, which led them to propose that ketamine must also bind to the same opioid receptors and thus concluded that ketamine must be an opioid. Kaplin says that there’s plenty of contrary evidence demonstrating that ketamine sticks to an entirely different receptor on brain cells: NMDA receptors, which are involved in learning and memory.

These NMDA receptors are found together with the opioid receptors on brain cells, and Kaplin says it’s no surprise that their components can meddle with one another, like interference picked up on a phone call or on the radio. “This interference and cross-talk does not mean that ketamine is an opioid, and to wrongly label it as such could eventually keep patients from essential antidepressant medications that could make a huge difference in their quality of life,” says Kaplin.

In March of this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved ketamine as a nasal spray to treat depression, specifying that ketamine is to be administered under the watch of physicians in small doses and in a health care setting to minimize any chance of abuse. The drug works much faster than other traditional antidepressants on the market, sometimes even after one or two uses.

Kaplin and his team are in the process of setting up their own ketamine clinic at Johns Hopkins, which they anticipate will be opening within the next year.

[Read the Original Post Here]

August 5, 2019
Family: Suffering Together With Psychiatric Disorders

“I don’t care what the &%@!* you think!! It’s all your fault!! I’m outta here!!!”

With that, Ben picked up the massive carved oak coffee table and threw it at the window. It hit the window and the wall with a thud, pushing the window frame in a contorted mangle of metal and glass out toward the garden, knocking a gash into the wall with the impact. Families that are suffering together with psychiatric disorders know this scene so well…

The table fell to the floor, unaffected by its collision, except for a few paint scrapes off the wall. The wall, however, didn’t do so well.

By then, Ben had already grabbed a china lamp and slung it toward another window. The shattering glass of the window and the shattering china in the lamp base formed a tinkling wind-chimes sort of symphony as they fell.

Ben beat his face with both fists, cursing his life.

Suffering Together

Little 6-year-old Sara shrank back into the shadows of the hallway. She knew not to cross her big brother at times like this. He was her hero and had been her best friend ever since she was born. He was kind, patient and included her even though he was 7 years older.

It scared her when he got like this, but she also instinctively knew he just couldn’t help it. She knew he’d probably cry again after this rage subsided, because he felt so helpless to control it and so sad about hurting the family.

She slipped back into her room and quietly closed the door to play with her dolls…and try to not hear what was happening.

Then her mom’s gentle voice sounded soothing and reassuring. She was helping him calm down, like she had so many times before. After 30 minutes or so (it was hard to tell time, but especially when every second seems like an eternity…) she heard Ben trying to talk through sobs… she knew what he was probably saying, and she wanted to go hug him. But she thought it was better to let mom do that right now. He might be embarrassed to know she heard all of that.

Each One Copes in His Own Way

Sara felt confident the “storm” had passed, but then the front door slammed so hard the house seemed to crack. She quietly opened her door to look and listen. Ben and Mom were talking in low tones in the living room…but she could see her older brother’s door was open.

Then a car started and screeched away outside.

Ohhhhh. I guess Ben’s episode made Gregory mad again. (Huge sigh) I wish everyone could just be happy. We must be the only family that goes through this..

Out of nowhere Scruffy, their mixed breed little dog, scooted between Sara’s legs and into her room for safety. She picked him up, and could feel him trembling…

Hugging Scruffy close to her, Sara withdrew back into her room and ever-so-quietly closed the door.

Quiet Distractions Provide Solace

She set up a tea party in her closet where it would be extra quiet… and brought in Baby Alive and Jenna to share it with her. hmmm….we need one more, she thought. She reached under her bed and pulled out Timothy, her cream-colored teddy bear…and took him into the “tea room” in her closet floor. With the light turned on, she pulled her closet door shut.

Shame Torments

Ben had stopped sobbing by now…and was looking at his feet. It’s never going to stop, he thought. What’s wrong with me?? I always ruin everything. I’m the black sheep of this family.

Why can’t I be like everyone else…? I’m so worthless, stupid, bad, and rotten to the core. I should never have been born… I’ll probably end up being a criminal…

“Whatcha thinking, Ben?” Ben’s mom waited patiently for Ben to gather his thoughts.

While Ben was searching for words, the front door opened.

Learning to Support Each Other In the Family

His dad was home from work. Ben tried to look pleasant.

“Hi Dad…”

“What’s going on…? Has something happened…?” Ben’s dad spotted the bashed windows and looked worried. Then his eyes fell on Ben’s swollen red face. Ben felt humiliated and didn’t know what to say.

“Hi Bill. How was your day?” Ben’s mom hated to bombard him with the latest family crisis when he’d just walked in from a stressful day. And she also hoped to give Ben a break from his dad’s scrutiny.

“It was fine, Lil. Is everything ok?”

The air in the room hung heavy with tension. But they were a family, and they needed to face times like these together, so Lily spoke up.

“Everything’s fine, honey. Ben had another episode today. It was terrible for him…well, for all of us. He’s feeling pretty discouraged right now. We were talking about what we could do to find a doctor that might help more than Dr. Mendolssohn has. Someone maybe who specializes in adolescent bipolar disorder?”

Ben focused on the pet hair on the rug. Bill nodded and stared at his feet, hands in his pockets. Lily stroked the sofa cushion. When a family is suffering together with psychiatric disorders…well, each one harbors his own secret pain.

A big part of that pain is helplessness.

Bill spoke first. “I noticed the car is gone…did Gregory leave?”

Ben sighed. Lily nodded.

“And Sara…?”

The NON-Squeaky Wheel Needs Attention, Too

Lily sprang up from the sofa and headed for Sara’s room. Her little girl had been so quiet…and with all the turmoil, she forgot to check on her. Guilt swelled up and threatened to choke her.

Tap, tap, tap. “Sara? May I come in please?” Lily tried to sound cheerful.

Tap-Tap-Tap. “Sara?”

Lily opened the door and didn’t see Sara.

“Sara??”

A tiny muffled voice squeaked, “yes, Mom?”

Lily got down on her knees and looked under the bed. Nothing.

She looked on the other side of Sara’s bed. Nothing but a couple stuffed animals.

“Sara? Where are you?”

The closet door opened. Sara’s hair was disheveled and the rims of her eyes were red. She’d been crying. Lily rushed over to her and swooped her up in a hug.

“Whatcha doing in your closet..?”

“Tea party…”

“Wanna help me cook supper?”

“Yeah!”

She swung Sara onto her hip and off they went to the kitchen, chattering about the tea party.

With Psychiatric Disorders, Symptoms Can Look Like Bad Behavior

Bill was sitting with Ben, helping him with his algebra homework. He knew a lecture about behavior wasn’t what Ben needed. He needed acceptance and support. Bill had made plenty of mistakes while he learned how to provide what his family needed in times like this.

So.

Another day. Once again they’d survived another major bump in the road. Tomorrow they’d call the insurance company about the damaged windows. But for now, they were thankful for peace.

He and Lily did their best to try to help Ben’s self-image remain strong…though they knew all too well that their best efforts might not be enough. They also tried to be sure Gregory had their time, support, and attention, too. It was easy in this household to be overlooked.

They were learning to avoid reacting with even more conflict or criticism. But rather to choose words and tone that soothed. Everyone needed it. And they believed their reactions were improving.

Family: Suffering Together with Psychiatric Disorders

Which brings up little Sara. They worked hard to try to protect her innocence and sweetness. But they couldn’t protect her from the frequent upheavals in her own home.

They also knew they had to be sure to communicate and make time for their relationship with each other. That was usually the first to be sacrificed.

Most of the time they were both stretched pretty thin.

Breathe.

Got anyone in your family with a psychiatric condition? It might be an eating disorder, bipolar disorder, severe depression, social anxiety (yes…that’s a disorder too), addiction, PTSD… there are lots of possibilities.

No matter what the condition, and whether it’s you or someone else, a family with a psychiatric disorder suffers together, feels helpless together, gets frustrated together… no one escapes.

And while it’s easy to blame, that doesn’t accomplish much, does it? It just makes the wounds infect.

When it gets right down to it, there is likely some genetic connection that links you all to the disorder. In this family, Ben drew the short straw. And bears the stigma.

But just as Bill isn’t to blame for the high blood pressure he inherited from his grandmother, and Lily isn’t to blame for her kidney stones, Ben inherited the tendency to develop his condition before he was ever born.

To try to manage his blood pressure, Bill either jogs or takes a brisk walk every night after work while Lily cooks dinner. Lily is careful to stay hydrated to avoid more stones. Ben tries to get out and play football in the afternoons and they work together to see that he eats balanced meals and gets to bed early. And they all take medication for these health problems.

When The Brain is Disordered, It Can Be Hard to Maintain Order At All

Not just for the person with the condition, but everyone close to him, too.

So don’t be fooled. The family tries to maintain these routines, but that’s not as easy as it sounds. It takes a concerted effort, and they try to support each other and understand when things don’t go as planned. Because, when a family is suffering together with psychiatric disorders, everything is more complicated, it seems.

Families like this have plenty of bad days. More days than they care to admit actually… where all the opportunities to manage their collective health slip through their fingers.

But they do try. And when things fall apart, they help each other get up and try again. Or at least they try to. Sometimes everyone just gets sick and tired of it all. So they retreat into their corners to recover a bit, then come together and face their life together again. At least that’s their intention.

Life Is Challenging on Some Level for Us All

If you don’t have a person in your family who has a health condition, maybe things go smoothly for you…? But I bet they don’t go as smoothly as you wish. Nobody’s life is perfect.

Still, if you do have one or more family members who endure chronic illness, (the genetics often strike multiple times in a family) you probably feel like no one can imagine what it’s like. You likely feel isolated and alone. Maybe you feel embarrassed, because your life isn’t perfect. And you’re right to some degree. No one knows what it’s like to live your life. But you don’t know what it’s like to live someone else’s either.

I can say this however… that if your family suffers with a member who has a brain or behavior disorder, we know it impacts the whole family. And our hearts are with you.

Is Your Outpost Suffering Together with Psychiatric Disorders?

Family is our most important outpost of support. No matter what the challenges a family faces, they don’t manage them well all the time. In fact, it’s fair to say there are LOTS of times the whole family seems to implode.

Some families have financial struggles. Other families have marriage struggles. And still other families have health struggles. But whatever the challenges, pulling together is the best way for everyone to come out in the best shape possible.

But then, that’s life, isn’t it?

It’s for you we work at Innovative Psychiatry to find better solutions, more effective treatments, and the compassion and support you need. And we’ve found extraordinary results for families like yours with ketamine treatment. You may have a family member with bipolar disorder, major depression, or PTSD. If so, call us.

She just might be a candidate for IV ketamine treatment. That also goes for social anxiety, addictions…and of course suicidal thoughts. ALWAYS take suicidal thoughts seriously. And let us help.

But don’t forget to take note of other family members who may be suffering in addition. They may need treatment, too, so they have the energy to conquer the days, weeks, and months of stress at home.

There is help available for your family. To feel better, with restored hope, and more harmony.

To the fresh emergence of your best selves,

Lori Calabrese, M.D.

July 29, 2019
How the Biology of Suicide Illuminates Prevention

When someone commits suicide, you’ll sometimes hear people say, “It makes no sense! She had everything to live for…” Or, “What a selfish thing to do. What about all the people who loved him? What about his kids…his wife..?” But this sort of tragedy isn’t about selfishness. To grasp what happens with your suicidal loved one, we are beginning to understand that there is a biology of suicide, and it can play into whether or not someone takes her life. It also helps to know what can be done. Read one young woman’s story to see what I mean…

…Casey climbed the stairs and disappeared into the darkness of her room without flicking on the light. Somehow the darkness was more comfortable. More familiar. She dropped her keys on the hall tree and her purse and coat on the floor, then flopped onto the sofa.

Settling back, her neck resting on the back cushion, she stared blankly at the ceiling. Another day was behind her.

It was always a feat to survive another day of work. Miserable. Now that she had, her mind wandered to nothingness. The billowing relief that would come if she could just get off this ride…this miserable journey day in and day out… Casey lost herself in reverie thinking about what a relief that would be.

She couldn’t do it anymore. She just couldn’t. And…she wouldn’t.

No one in Casey’s life had any idea what she goes through. She seemed astute, responsible, reliable to those around her. Quiet. Sometimes a little short-tempered… But pretty self-sufficient.

The darkness wrapped itself around her, and she hung her head in exhaustion.

Random thoughts drifted through her mind. The summer she was 3. She had climbed a tree and went too high. As she looked down she felt a little lightheaded and swayed in the branch as the wind blew. She had thought that if she just jumped, she would go to heaven.

“Good grief,” she thought. “I was only 3 then. Was there ever a day in my life I didn’t think about dying? Wish I could die? Figure out how to die…??”

She closed her eyes. “Thirty one years. I guess it will go on as long as I live…” Then, she thought, but why? What’s the purpose of my life beyond dreading, thinking about dying, seeing only futility..?”

“Why put it off any longer..?”

And then, something happened.

She opened the drawer in her nightstand, reached to the back, and pulled out a tin of pills she’d been saving for years. The prescription said TWO pills. And she’d taken one and stashed one. There was another bottle she’d squirreled away in her closet, so she felt around till she found it and tossed it on the sofa.

After a bit she dragged herself into the kitchen, and pulled the Kentucky Honey Whiskey from the cupboard a friend had left at her house 6 months ago. As she reached up for it, she saw the Tylenol and grabbed it.

She knew that too much Tylenol would damage the liver, so slipped that into her pocket. The whiskey bottle was three-quarters full. That will help, she told herself. Then she grabbed a glass and took the bottle to the coffee table.

With all she would need in place…she lay down and drifted off to sleep…

Honking from the street below. HONK HONK HONK!! Wondering about the time, she looked at her watch. 11:49. Just a few minutes before midnight.

Methodically, she poured Kentucky Honey into her glass and chased the first few pills. Then poured another glass, and swallowed 4 or 5 more.

Pain pills and sleeping pills… hmmmmmm… It seems to me I should feel a little different by now. She was glad for the late hour. Unlikely anyone would find her too soon. No one ever knocks or stops by.

She popped more pills into her mouth.

The Kentucky Honey was becoming harder and harder to swallow. Her head was spinning from the glasses of it she’d had so far.

All she could think about was the relief she would feel when this was over…

No one had any idea…she had always held her feelings and frame of mind close to the vest. Impossible to get her to talk, really…

We do so much research about what drives someone to suicide. But what actually happens– biologically?

Why Now? Why Tonight ?

Some people think about suicide every day of their lives and never act on it. What’s behind the moment someone actually takes the step to end his life? And what role does biology — the biology of suicide — play?

Two prominent researchers are known for their insightful hypothesis about this way back in the 1990’s. Their contemporaries swore by the prevailing belief that depression was caused by low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. (You remember those days?) These two were burning the midnight oil trying to figure out HOW that was true.

Their names were Charney and Krystal. Dennis Charney is now the Dean of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. He was focused on depression. John Krystal was exploring schizophrenia to better understand and treat it.

In both cases, their work at Yale at the time led them to glutamate, the most prolific neurotransmitter in the human body. As an excitatory neurotransmitter, glutamate helps brain cells communicate, so it’s critical in learning, memory development, mood and …. the list goes on.

So they went to work together to learn what they could.

Now, you need to understand that at that time, even though ketamine was a solid and relied-upon anesthesia medicine, its dark reputation as an abused substance in the club scene — and on the street — kept it from getting much attention in research.

Glutamate Paves the Way to Ketamine

Ketamine causes specific behaviors in people who use it on the street, usually within 2 hours after taking it. But the amount they ingest is around 100 times greater than the doses used in anesthesia, or the even smaller dose these researchers gave their subjects.

This is where some people get the wrong idea about ketamine. If they’ve heard about it or seen it on the street, they tend to be terrified of its use therapeutically because of severe side effects they’ve seen.

But when ketamine is used in tiny doses therapeutically, it’s a completely different “animal.”

Even so, Charney and Krystal didn’t want to miss anything that might show up later so, in an abundance of caution, they decided to monitor their research subjects for a full 72 hours after their ketamine infusion. They chose 9 subjects to try the ketamine infusion, but 2 of them dropped out. So they followed 7 depressed subjects for 72 hours. This was a turning point. Keep reading…

Four hours after the ketamine was administered, they checked on the patients. These patients declared they felt better. In fact, they felt a great deal better! Our researchers were shocked beyond belief. Everyone knew that antidepressants take weeks or months to produce an antidepressant effect, and this medicine produced dramatic results within 4 hours.

They didn’t expect anyone to believe them, and kept these results under the radar for years. When they finally did publish their results in 2000, they got …. not much attention.

Low Serotonin Severely Alters the Brain – Which Plays into the Biology of Suicide

But during the same time another research team, John Mann and Victoria Arango, set out to study the brains of suicide victims. Over time, they discovered that certain areas of the brain showed alterations in serotonin. A significant kind of alteration.

In fact, this situation reminded them of the well-known story of Phineas Gage, back in 1848. Gage was a railroad worker, and had been impaled by a 43-inch cylindrical iron tamping bar right through his skull.

Amazingly, he survived the accident, but his personality completely changed. His doctor later wrote that Gage’s “character” was altered by the damage and his “animal propensities” emerged, as he put it. He wrote that Gage was fitful and irreverent. He called him capricious and vacillating, and complained that he used the “grossest profanity.” Now Gage had been a foreman: a responsible, circumspect, hardworking man before the accident. So you see, the change was dramatic.

It wasn’t until more modern times that research revealed the area of the brain destroyed by the iron tamping bar is the area that controls inhibitions, and in Gage’s case, his social inhibitions.

And that’s one of the same areas affected by “low levels of serotonin transporter binding.”

So, with low levels of serotonin, the inhibition disappears. In the cases of these suicidal victims, the researchers think the inhibition that kept them from committing suicide was lifted, and they surged forward and ended their lives.

But again, this may have happened as a number of other social, economic, and interpersonal factors were unravelling. There are so many contributing factors to suicide. And even when we can study and pinpoint biological correlates, we know that low levels of serotonin in the cerebrospinal fluid, and probably low levels of serotonin transporter binding don’t always result in suicide.

Of course they don’t.

Moreover, even if the doctors of these patients had known the exact biological areas and brain processes involved in suicide, and had a way to modulate the activity there, it still might have taken weeks or months to reach a therapeutic effect — and it might not even have worked …as it may have been too late.

Ketamine Takes Its Cue From the Biology of Suicide in YOUR Brain

So this is a HUGE key to why ketamine treatment can be so vital to erasing suicidal thinking. Because it can erase those thoughts in an afternoon, in the psychiatrist’s office. No need to wait weeks or months and risk suicide while you wait for it to take effect.

Compassion for Suicidal Loved Ones

People who succeed in, or even attempt, suicide, aren’t thinking about the feelings of others. (There’s some truth to that…but not necessarily what the criticizers think.) Quite honestly, in that condition they can’t. They may have been induced by their disordered brain to think about suicide for a very long time, or maybe just so intensely, whether they wanted to or not. Then, if the biology of suicide kicks in and they have little or nothing to help them hold back, they may act impulsively and without recourse or consideration of consequences.

For those of us who love them, unless we’re tormented by the same suicidal thoughts, we can’t imagine what it’s like to want to die, or to feel compelled to die.

This isn’t selfishness…it’s sickness. It’s also not selfish when a Type 1 diabetic’s blood sugar drops so low he convulses. It’s a consequence of his serious illness.

And it’s for this reason that it’s important to never dismiss or ignore talk of suicide.

Thankfully, IV ketamine treatment can provide the safety stop to put on the brakes and end the suicidal thoughts.

It can give your loved one time to heal and move forward with their lives.

Biology of Suicide at Innovative Psychiatry

At Innovative Psychiatry, we’ve seen so many who fought the torment of suicidal thoughts and inclinations, walk out free of those thoughts after IV ketamine treatment.

Many times they’ve reached the point of emergency late in the day and needed immediate treatment. Then, after ketamine treatment, found immediate relief. The biology of suicide – in those cases — is side-stepped and overcome by the most rapid and effective treatment for suicidal thinking of our time.

We’re also flooded with relief for them as the suicidal thoughts subside, the light comes to their eyes, and they leave relaxed and eager to continue restorative treatment for their depression symptoms.

***If you have suicidal thoughts a few times a week, or 20 times a day: please know that there is hope. Those thoughts can stop. Reach out immediately for support by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. OR text HOME 741741. Someone is available to listen 24 hours every day. ***

And consider IV ketamine treatment. It can help you experience freedom from those tormenting thoughts and find hope and purpose in your life again through relief from depressive and anxious symptoms. Fast.

The first step happens when your life is no longer at risk.

Your life really can be fulfilling, rewarding, and productive as you experience what ketamine treatment can do for you. While it’s not a one-size-fits-all treatment, IV ketamine treatment can restore your motivation and initiative, your creativity and energy, so you can invest in your relationships, your career, and your hobbies with enthusiasm and joy.

July 15, 2019
Antepartum and Postpartum Anxiety: Moms Who Suffer Without Feeling Sad

Treatment can help anxious moms relax and enjoy their babies.

Jill was so excited to be pregnant. She’d waited for 4 years after she and Joe were married to start trying. She was just elated three months later when a home pregnancy test showed those two little lines. She was pregnant! Even the slightest thought of antepartum and postpartum anxiety never crossed her mind.

In spite of waves of nausea off and on the first couple months, by the time she got through her first trimester, she was feeling better. Her excitement to see and hold her precious baby was bubbling up like crazy. How could she wait six more months??

But as she moved through the 4th month, she began to feel… uneasy.

Just this vague sense that something bad could really happen… maybe something about her pregnancy wasn’t going as it should? She worried that something was going wrong with the baby. What if there was something wrong that they couldn’t see? Or a problem with his development? What if he was in that 3%? What if something went really wrong during delivery?How would she take care of him?

Day by day the dread grew worse. She asked her doctor about her concern, and she assured her that everything looked good. Told her that she should enjoy her pregnancy.

That was the problem. She couldn’t. She was worried sick.

Then, when she reached her third trimester, the dreams started with a vengeance. Night after night she’d dream she gave birth … to an alien. Or a forest creature. Or a monstrous murderous demon. She was so ashamed that these were her nightmares that she couldn’t tell anyone. No one.

When something is so terrible, who can you tell? Who can you trust?

The nightmares were so cruel, so vivid, that she’d wake up in the wee hours sweating, heart pounding, and screaming. Her husband would try to comfort her, then she’d go back to sleep. And the nightmare would continue. It was as if she couldn’t escape.

By the time the baby was born, her joy was gone, and in its place loomed a terrible dread. She feared for the baby, and what he would grow to be. Not who…but what. She tried to nurse him in the hospital but would break down and cry and ask the nurses to take him for awhile to give her a break.

Going Home From the Hospital Didn’t Help

It wasn’t supposed to be like this! What was happening to her? Why couldn’t she enjoy her newborn son?

The first 6 weeks or so she tried. She really tried. She was exhausted, and wondered if she’d ever get enough sleep to feel better. Waking every hour or two around the clock took a toll she didn’t anticipate. Her thoughts about her baby seemed irrational, even to her. She couldn’t imagine why she ever thought she wanted a baby. Now here she was, stuck in a permanent nightmare. She felt cheated.

Then her worries about what she might do to him if she let her guard down overwhelmed her. She mentioned her concerns to her pediatrician during a routine visit, and he explained that this could be postpartum anxiety and gave her a card to see someone he trusted.

Within a few months after her treatment began, she was beginning to see life, her son, and herself in a new light. She could sort of imagine now that it was possible she could have a good and loving relationship with him.

It helped enormously to know all this was a condition her hormonal imbalances and stress created. To fully realize that neither she nor her infant son were to blame. She read all she could find on antepartum and postpartum anxiety.

There wasn’t much.

But where, oh where, did it come from?

We’re all familiar with postpartum depression, but you rarely hear people talk about postpartum anxiety. While the two often join forces, they’re actually individual disorders. Since postpartum depression is often associated with sadness and anxiety, postpartum anxiety is sometimes overlooked.

It’s actually possible to feel overwhelmed, severely stressed, and have thoughts of harming your baby or… of ending your own life… without feeling sad.

When a woman gives birth, several changes go into high gear in her body. Pregnancy hormones drop, lactating hormones kick in, and the sudden changes in her brain give way to mood swings.

Add to that the painful engorgement in her breasts as milk comes in, lack of sleep from her baby’s waking every hour or two to eat, the soreness in her perineum from stitches, (or in her abdomen from a C-section) and cramping of her uterus as it recovers from pregnancy and childbirth, and this new mother is enduring substantial stress.

Stress + Fear = Anxiety

Even though many people are more familiar with postpartum depression, roughly 6% of all pregnant women and about 10% of those who are postpartum develop anxiety that’s severe enough to need treatment.

It’s natural for a new mother to have mild worries or nervousness about whether her baby is eating enough, whether the baby’s stool is like it’s supposed to be…and wonder if she’ll ever feel rested again.

But when mild worries become more intense, concern becomes a constant dread that something bad is going to happen, or intrusive thoughts begin of harming the baby or yourself, it’s time to seek help.

So why do some mothers seem to adapt to the new addition to the family, along with hormone changes, the lack of sleep, and the new routine, while others feel and think things they don’t want to feel or think, struggle to bond with the baby or enjoy her, and wish for a way to escape … either temporarily or permanently…?

There are a number of factors. And none of them are the anxious mother’s fault.

Risk Factors for Antepartum and Postpartum Anxiety

First, mothers who have relatives with anxiety disorders –or have had anxiety disorders themselves in the past — are at higher risk for postpartum anxiety than woman with no family history of anxiety at all. In addition, women with thyroid imbalance are at higher risk, also.

Most of the time when we refer to postpartum anxiety, we’re talking about a generalized anxiety disorder that develops during or after pregnancy. Symptoms like nervousness, constant worry, difficulty sleeping, racing thoughts, tension…

But there are a couple more types of postpartum anxiety that are important to highlight.

Postpartum Panic Disorder

Panic disorder doesn’t mean being panicky, or having anxiety that escalates easily until you feel wound up. It means having frank, out of the blue, and unprovoked panic attacks. You’re not just worried all the time about whether the baby is eating enough, whether you’re capable of being a good mother, or whether the baby will get sick, you begin to get random episodes of sheer panic.

Sometimes multiple times a day.

Shortness of breath, fast heart rate, chest pain, dizziness, and tingling along with feeling confined or like you’re suffocating can make it extremely difficult for you to take care of your baby, yourself, or the rest of the family. These sensations can come and go, but you may need professional help to cope with them and reduce their impact on you and your new family.

Postpartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (POCD)

Symptoms of OCD can emerge during or after pregnancy, too. They’re similar to general symptoms of OCD but tend to be focused on the baby. Intrusive thoughts about harm coming to your baby can crowd your mind, and even shock you.

The next thing you know, you find yourself checking things over and over and repeating things over and over to try to avoid a circumstance that would allow your thought to come true.

And…you’re probably horrified at the thoughts that pop into your mind. But this is why we call them “intrusive” thoughts. They intrude into your thoughts without you inviting them.

They’re a result of disordered circuitry, and misfiring signals, in your brain as the result of relentless and overwhelming stress, shock, and genetics.

Of all of the antepartum and postpartum anxiety disorders, this may be the most difficult and the most upsetting of all. Even though you probably know in your head you would never follow through on the thoughts, and you also know that the repetitions and cycles of checking don’t really help, you probably feel powerless to stop. But treatment can do what you can’t by yourself.

Because this condition is treatable, and you need to not endure these symptoms alone. Seek help and treatment so you can get your life and your relationship with your child back on track and in a healthier, brighter place.

Postpartum anxiety disorders are not your fault.

You’re not to blame for the intrusive thoughts, the fears, the compulsive reactions. These are a result of your genetics, your circumstances, your stress, and your family history. But treatment is not only available to you, it also can return your world back to its right and rewarding function.

Antepartum and postpartum anxiety disorders come in various forms with a variety of faces. But it’s vital that you not confront this alone. Rather, seek treatment. And please know that this is not your fault. Even so, you may not get better without help outside yourself.

If you’re pregnant and feeling feelings and thinking thoughts that aren’t what you wish you they were, there is help available. If your baby has been born, and those feelings are just starting or are getting worse, call us. We can help you feel better, or refer you to someone who can.

Don’t face postpartum anxiety disorders alone.

You and your baby deserve a loving and happy relationship together.

July 8, 2019

Category: Kids, Teens, and College Students

Articles about Kids, Teens, and College Students from Lori Calabrese, MD | The Ketamine Blog

Ketamine Treatment for Psychiatric Disorders

Suicide in Children

Ketamine Can Rapidly Erase Suicidal Thoughts

For the Depressed Mom: Ketamine Can Restore Your Joy

Let’s talk about moms.

Motherhood Is a Handful.

Closer inspection reveals that your 10 year-old son is in the bathroom (which he was supposed to be cleaning) after putting his sleeping bag by the front door, and has filled the sink with water.

Your son, who got bored cleaning the bathroom, had gotten distracted with his hamster. Now how to find the hamster?

When It Rains It Pours

After sternly instructing him to pick up all his books PRONTO! you realize you better check on your 21 month-old daughter. Distractions can pile up when you’re focusing on packing 3 meals a day for 4 days and you have a houseful of active children…you didn’t notice she wandered off.

Upon closer inspection after snatching her up in your arms, you see that it’s not blood. It’s lipstick. Her face is so covered with the stain of it, you know she’ll be raw by the time you get it even partially off.

How thoughtful. Sigh.

Calamities, Crises, and Catastrophes

You head for the kitchen, baby girl on your hip, and the kitchen and living area are in a cloud of smoke…then BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!! The smoke alarms.

Move the pan off the burner. Turn off the burner. Open windows. Gather kids and go outside for fresh air.

Add to all of this the challenges of quarantine in a global pandemic! There aren’t words. But you do what you have to do, don’t you?

But what about when you’re not?

To the Depressed Mom: Ketamine Can Restore Your Hope

If you’re a mom with PTSD…or a depressed mom… ketamine can restore your resilience and your hope.

Or when you just can’t get out of bed… so you get the children to watch TV, because you know at least they’re safe, but it nags at you because you know this isn’t a healthy, carefree way to spend childhood.

But it’s the best you can do.

When you’re a depressed mom, ketamine can restore your joy.

Ketamine treatment consists of 6 infusions, give or take, over the course of 2-3 weeks. It’s, hands down, the most effective, innovative treatment for severe depression, social anxiety, PTSD, bipolar depression, and alcohol use disorder.

But did you know that at least a third of people who have these symptoms are not helped at all by prescription medicines?

Ketamine works in multiple ways and in multiple areas in the brain. And it’s fast. So, instead of having to wait weeks or months for a prescription to help you feel better, with ketamine treatment you can feel better in hours or days.

You Don’t Have to Endure Suicidal Thoughts…You Really Don’t

It may sound too good to be true…but if you’re a depressed mom, ketamine can restore the real you, the person who has dreams for yourself and your children, and wants to have the resilience to help them fulfill their dreams.

Discouraged, Depressed Mom? Ketamine Can Restore Your Resilience

Student Need for Psychiatric Care on Campus Quadrupled

Mason walked to the student union and plopped down to drink his coffee.

It’s not like he was partying or anything…he wasn’t doing much of anything social. He didn’t feel like seeing anybody. Just wanted to be alone. So he’d try to study then just lay his book down and turn over and go back to sleep.

“No man. I’ve gotta study…” Mason felt like he was lying, because he knew studying wouldn’t help anything. His brain was a lump of cold oatmeal. Useless.

“Maybe, man. Where do you meet…? “ He knew he wouldn’t go. He couldn’t handle being around people right now…

Depressed or Anxious Students Seek Solitude to Avoid Embarrassment

Aaackkk!!! Mason realized his mind was wondering again. He put his eyes back on the beginning of that page and started reading again. He read the first half of that page 4 times…and couldn’t recall what it said.

Student Need for Psychiatric Care on Campus Soars

And there’s a difference between relationship counseling and student need for psychiatric care due to depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and PTSD.

Social Media is Again at Fault

This is largely related to the facade they see on social media. As they internalize these false beliefs, some students succumb to self-doubt and self-hatred, because of these comparisons.

Suicide May Be a Consideration..?

They also must train everyone on campus to recognize signs and symptoms and take action… including campus police, professors, residential advisors, librarians, and anyone else whose job includes student contact.

At any rate, while all these campuses scramble to provide services their students’ needs, the demand has risen so fast that they remain limited in resources for what they can do.

Many of These Suffering Students Can Achieve Remission Off Campus

For these who’re being treated before they enter college, or for whom treatment has become inadequate, a very real option can be IV ketamine treatment. When medicines are no longer helping, or never did, IV ketamine infusions can relieve symptoms dramatically.

The restoration of brain circuitry, and proliferation of structures in the brain can rapidly build the resilience to embrace school again.

IV Ketamine Can Transform Students and Reduce Student Need for Psychiatric Care on Campus

That sullen student can wake up with new ideas, energy to socialize, and a song he’s singing.

And if you can relate to Mason’s story, and don’t know where to turn for help, call us… we want to help you rediscover your creativity, energy for work, relationships, and fun. We want to see your hope restored.

Fighting Meanness, Hatred, and Cyberbullying in Schools

We recently talked about the prominence of depression in teen girls.

The meanness may be a one-time remark that’s hurtful. Or it may be habitual, purposeful criticism and intimidation. Either way, it can cause damage that keeps on delivering for many years to come.

Teaching the Difference in Thoughtlessness and Meanness

Instagram and Snapchat – For Good or Evil

While some studies reveal that many people feel these digital platforms improve their relationships by giving them more context about the lives of those they care about, other studies show that use of them reduces face to face contact with the people in their lives who matter.

Revealing Study about Social Media

Since social media profiles and posts tend to show those things people want the world to see, their profiles seem ideal, often generating negative feelings like jealousy and resentment in their followers.

Teens Feel the Impact of Instagram and Snapchat Most Deeply

Once they’ve been bullied, they report that they’re afraid to close out their account because they know others will continue to talk about them …. and they want to know what they’re saying.

Fighting meanness, hatred, and cyberbullying in our teens’ social culture is vital, though daunting.

Small Rural School Set Out to Find Solutions

One 14 year-old we’ll call Tori, received a snapchat (or Snap, as they say now) of a picture of her from behind taking notes in class. The caption read, “I literally hate you. You’re a round cereal box.”

Public Attacks Hurt

But, even though the name-calling (what’s a round cereal box anyway?) didn’t seem to target anything she was insecure about, the fact that someone told her, “I literally hate you” stung. And why? She had had no interaction with this girl to speak of…certainly nothing negative.

And it made her so uncomfortable that she realized how much attacks like this must hurt those who were often targets of meanness and hatred.

When she did, the girl looked at her with a look that said, Sooo? What did I do?

Student-Directed Programs Prove the Most Successful In Fighting Meanness, Hatred, and Cyberbullying

But they’re hoping to see the surveys report improvements at the beginning of next year as these new programs have time to improve the social environment.

The caption read: “Cuz I’m a box of cereal. LOL”

And Tori is determined to help so many other wounded students to recover. She believes through Drop the Drama she can help them turn the negatives into positives on campus.

ADULTS Provide the Support When Teens Work to Change Their Culture

There are as many ways to fight meanness, hatred, and cyberbullying as there are people to think of them!

In addition, the Drop the Drama group is reaching out to the student body to support change. They’re encouraging them to use kindness, promote inclusiveness, and face-to-face interaction.

This new perspective quickly spread through the student body fighting meanness, hatred, and cyberbullying.

Innovative Psychiatry Provides IV Ketamine for Teen Crises

Our teens and our children need the opportunity to develop in healthy ways. To be immersed in balanced and friendly environments to learn healthy interaction skills.

And so, we want to see an environment develop where kids and teens learn to lead by EXAMPLE rather than dysfunction. Where they can join forces to forge an inviting world … to bond, interact, collaborate, and reach out to those in pain.

Life Can Be Joyful. You Can Have Hope…

Why is Depression in Teen Girls Increasing So Fast??