Category: Suicidal Thoughts

Articles About Suicidal Thoughts by Lori Calabrese, MD | The Ketamine Blog

We offer the following articles about suicidal thoughts to reduce the hype and stigma that seem to accompany the tragedy of suicide and those who consider it. We hope to show how changes in brain circuitry and structures lead to the torment of these thoughts, and as a result an individual can make attempts on his own life because he succumbs to those painful images and thought patterns.

Suicidal Thoughts Are Caused by a Variety of Disorders and Reactions

Suicide is not selfish, as some claim, any more than kidney failure is selfish. It’s part of a disease process that creates a cycle the individual is trapped within.

Suicidal thoughts can accompany a variety of psychiatric disorders. In fact, they can torment people who have never been diagnosed with a disorder at all. Sometimes changes can happen slowly over time in response to a significant life event that takes the joy out of life for an individual. And that state can progress to thoughts of death.

The loss of someone near and dear, or other types of losses can also contribute. Sometimes a personal failure is behind the action.

In other cases, a person may suffer for a prolonged period of time from a diagnosis, or multiple disorders, that bring feelings of depression, despair, and despondency. When this happens, in some cases mental images of death, or thoughts of dying, or even plans for dying can begin.

Of all of those who admit to thinking about death and dying, and those who think those thoughts but don’t talk about them, there is a smaller percentage of people who actually follow through.

But that’s not to say that there aren’t far too many suicides.

Suicide is the Second Leading Cause of Death in 15-29 Year Olds

And it doesn’t just happen in developed countries. Globally, 79% of suicides occur in lower and middle income countries.

And think about this: The greatest risk factor for suicide is a previous attempt.

The archaic idea that an unsuccessful suicide attempt is just a cry for attention is an idea that can eventually lead to tragedy.

Here’s the point.

Talk of suicide should always be taken seriously. We don’t know for sure who among this group will follow through and who won’t. But these thoughts put any person at risk who experiences them.

Suicidal Thoughts and Actions Are a Product of a Mind Out of Order

Unfortunately there are far too many who end their lives. But thanks to IV ketamine treatment, that number is decreasing.

What I’ve seen in my own practice is that IV ketamine can end those thoughts in an afternoon. That buys time for the individual to safely participate in therapy and build a more solid personal infrastructure for remission.

In fact, the use of IV ketamine for suicidal thoughts can prevent trips to the ER for suicidal attempts and prevent hospitalizations, as well.

It’s for this reason I offer IV ketamine to stop suicidal thoughts and save lives. Lives of people who can go on to enjoy love, productivity, and fulfillment.

As you read these articles about suicidal thoughts, I hope they’ll broaden your perspective about how widely thoughts like this are experienced, and how important it is to stop them so your loved one can heal.

Men Who Seek Help for Their Mental Health are Leaders

Reaching Out for Help — and Treatment — Is the Bravest and Healthiest Way to Make Your Life Count

We’ve talked before about stigma, and the fear you can have of doing or saying anything that would attach a stigma to you.

Racism is in the news often in these times. It seems that being accused as a racist is one of the most dreaded accusations anyone can bear. And once that accusation is slung at someone, it’s hard to get out from under the the searing branding of it.

You don’t want to be a racist, and maybe even more, you don’t want to be SEEN as a racist.

In a similar way, there’s another label that gets slung around, and that’s “mentally ill” or “crazy” … right? Here’s worse: weak.

The stigma is painful. The label hurts. Those slinging those stones are not usually qualified to have any idea of its truth.

Just as the stigma of racism runs deep and its historical tendrils have insidiously reached all races, in all cities, and carried through generations, in a similar way the stigma of what people call “mental illness” has done the same.

Also, just as neuroscientists have discovered more and more about what actually happens in the cells in the brain that result in a disorder, there is more and more information to fight stigma.

Still, it exists. If you go to a psychiatrist to find out what can be done about the darkness, emptiness, despair you feel…will you lose your job? What about your family…Will they think you’re weak? How will your boss look at you…any differently? Will you have trouble getting insurance?

Which is why it’s so important that men seek help when they need it. It shows they know what’s important.

What are the risks?

But if you need an intervention to pull you back from the precipice of despair, from thoughts of suicide … does that mean you’re weak? Or simply that you need treatment to restore you to your full functioning self?

What about a celebrity athlete? Should a famous athlete be respectfully treated so he can move forward and perform, or should he be shamed and stigmatized as if he’s not worthy of his position?

But think about it. Truly independent, strong men seek help when they need it, whether to lift furniture, improve a skill, or check out something that doesn’t feel right. Like a pain in their heart. It’s as much about being a leader as it is about being well.

Dak Prescott has been in the news because of something besides his role as a Dallas Cowboys quarterback. After his mother’s death from colon cancer in 2013, during which his brother Jace was a present support and helplessly watched her suffering, Jace took his own life in April of this year.

Dak has begun opening up about these tragedies, and about his own struggles with depression and anxiety through the COVID-19 pandemic.

He spoke out in September about the importance of being vulnerable during difficult times, and reaching out for help, rather than trying to carry your pain silently inside.

He knows that doing that can be lifesaving.

Dak’s statements have opened up the dialogue again about men in masculine roles, and their difficulties in being honest and open to reach out for support and treatment.

This is an area of extra stigma not only for the athletes, but for their fans and their announcers.

The same can be said about other tough roles such as police and military.

And among the cultures in these careers, a true leader is too often believed to be one who doesn’t “allow” depression or panic. (As if we allow it, right?) And who certainly doesn’t need help … with anything. Or directions.

And yet, people of all walks of life can suffer with psychiatric disorders. Depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction. Hopelessness. They cut across all boundaries, all races, all cultures, all socioeconomic levels. They can creep in or hit you like a hurricane.

It has nothing to do with courage, energy, personal strength, or leadership ability.

It hits all of us. Ourselves, or someone we know.

Dak Prescott is joining with other male celebrities such as Dwayne Johnson, Michael Phelps, and Kevin Love, to encourage men to speak up, be honest and open about their struggles, talk about real things that matter, and embrace treatment when it’s needed.

They’re showing the world that strong men seek help when they need it, because that’s what leaders do.

And that’s a very productive effort toward reducing stigma, to letting all men be real, to feel what they feel — and to be honest and courageous to talk about it and reach out for support.

The beauty of it is that there is help to be found.

For depression, PTSD, suicidal thoughts, alcohol use disorder, and substance use disorder, IV ketamine treatment can make a robust and extraordinary transformation in your life over a few short weeks. Not for everyone, of course, but for many.

It can also dramatically relieve bipolar depression, postpartum depression, and adolescent depression and help you achieve a kind of resilience you didn’t know you had in you.

The era of taking antidepressants for months and years hoping they’ll eventually help even when they don’t… is outdated. Because we have more to offer. So if what you’re doing isn’t working to help, it may be time to reach out and see what else is out there.

At Innovative Psychiatry we see many men whose symptoms make them pretty miserable get back to their best selves after a few weeks of infusions…

And we’re set up to safely offer these infusions in the current COVID pandemic in our office in South Windsor, CT.

Dak Prescott is a brave man, who has owned up to his feelings, pain, and struggle…and has reached out for help.

He’s still a leader in his field. A leader who’s setting an example for health. A man seeks help. It’s a leadership thing…like a CEO, or an athlete, or a governor. Men seek help because they know they can’t do it all. So they choose their help wisely.

Do for yourself what Dak has done for himself. Connect with others who also struggle and seek support, and reach out for treatment here.

Stigma about taking hold of what you need to live well is so 20th century. This is a new dawn, a new world, with new solutions.

There is no weakness in reaching out to get what you need.

We’re here to help you with that.

To the restoration of your best self,

October 12, 2020
Recognize and Identify Depression and Seek Treatment

October is National Depression Awareness Month and October 8 is Depression Screening Day

40 million US adults struggle with depression and/or anxiety. But not everyone who struggles recognizes they even have an identifiable or treatable condition, or that they need treatment. That’s why there are tools that you can use to help identify the symptoms and figure out if you might want to consider seeking treatment. This week, participate with people you love so you can recognize and identify depression. It can be lifesaving. For so many, it’s both. And like pedals propel the chain on a bicycle, depression and anxiety can just keep aggravating and perpetuating each other until you feel like you’re losing your footing.

There was a time 20 years ago when society as a whole wasn’t aware of depression. There were all sorts of judgmental criticisms of those who suffered. So there is good reason to have a dedicated day — nationally — to draw attention to a condition that needs to be identified and treated.

Apparently, it’s working, right?

So let’s talk about screening.

It’s important to know if you’ve just had a tiring day…or if you’re actually bearing the weight of a condition. Depression can present itself as mild to severe and anywhere in between.

And while you may be able to get by with mild depression …in fact, you may be able to get through it with healthy activities, fresh air, good diet, and time to relax, severe depression probably is a sign you need treatment so you can function and recover.

To recognize and identify depression in yourself or those you love is so much better than ignoring symptoms and behaviors you don’t understand.

A screening tool measures – with your help – how you feel about your daily routine, about your energy, your sleep, your ability to concentrate, and your feelings about your life and future.

You can google “depression assessment tool” and take the little test to give you a somewhat objective impression. These tools are designed after a tool doctors use to help assess the severity of depressive symptoms called a PHQ-9.

Of course, tools like this aren’t intended to take the place of your psychiatrist, but using the tool informally may alert you to consider making an appointment.

To take it the next step.

Some people –you, maybe– have been moderately to severely depressed for so long, that your mood can lighten and you find your feel some relief but the screening tool still shows you’re moderately or moderately severely depressed. And it could be that you were actually severely depressed before you felt a lightening.

But with moderately or moderately severe depression, you should be under the care of a psychiatrist, to help you avoid a dangerous condition.

Remember, those tools can help you recognize your symptoms, get an idea of how severe they are and help you make a decision to see your doctor. Your psychiatrist will use a variety of screen tools, evolution, interview assessments, medical history, and more.

So you need to know what to look for in adults, teens, and children, don’t you?

1. Do you feel empty? It may feel like sadness, or futility, too.

2. Do you feel irritable..? Do you find you’re just short tempered and easily agitated?

3. Do you find you’re getting too thin, or maybe you’re suddenly gaining weight like crazy?

4. Do you think about death, about dying, about yourself dying or someone else?

5. Is it hard to focus, concentrate, on your work, or a newspaper, or TV?

As we stop to think about awareness and education toward recognizing depression in others, and offering support, there are some points we can celebrate as being positives that seem to come from depression.

For example, you may not realize that people who have suffered from depression tend to have more capacity for treating others with compassion. They often find they are less judgmental and have more capacity for understanding in what other suffer in life, and this is interesting:

They tend to be more analytical.

So they can break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable parts than those who haven’t experienced depression, and they often actually perform better on certain tests.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Still, what’s far more interesting is to utilize ways to recognize and identify depression so you can do something about it. To find the treatment that will restore, refresh, and help you feel good again.

Antidepressants

While it’s true that 35-60% of the people who have been diagnosed with depression respond to the first or second trial of oral antidepressants, there are about 35% who don’t respond to anything.

These cases are often among the most severe, and many have considered their depression to be treatment resistant. (The depression is treatment-resistant — not the person!) You can imagine why many attempts to receive effective treatment over months, years, even decades can result in feelings of futility.

But in the last decade or so, IV ketamine treatment has become such a rapid and effective alternative treatment, that many have come to consider it their treatment of choice when nothing else has worked.

Let me be clear though, that no one treatment is the treatment of choice for all depressed patients.

Even so, even among that 35% who haven’t found help with other medicines or treatments, IV ketamine treatment can be effective.

“Effective” means that you could respond. Even better, “effective” means that you could REMIT.

Picture remission like this…energy to meet friends for lunch and really enjoy your time with them, resilience to perform well at work and excel in your job, to bounce back from disappointment, and to build strong healthy relationships.

And there’s more. Suicidal thinking is a life-threatening symptom of severe depression. IV Ketamine is also an extraordinary treatment to stop suicidal thoughts.

Our study on ketamine’s effectiveness to stop suicidal thinking in the office in our patients with depression demonstrates ketamine’s potential for this life threatening symptom in a real world population of real people with complicated histories and hard lives. It can prevent that trip to the ER. It can help avoid a hospitalization.

Our patients commonly go through ketamine treatment in our office over a couple weeks — and many emerge feeling wonderful. Ready to take on challenges, with the sparkle to be contribute, work with others, and be creative.

At Innovative Psychiatry, trying to do our best to help you and your family hasn’t stopped or slowed down because of the coronavirus pandemic. We continue to improve our protocols and technology for maintaining a safe environment for you.

If you struggle with depression and have not found effective treatment, call us.

Get with your loved ones and screen for depression this week. Reach out and take steps to recognize and identify depression in yourself or loved ones.

And if you’ve suffered from unimproved depression, or if you find you’re thoughts filled with death images or plans, call us.

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

Sometimes the only person who can take care of you is you. Take care of yourself and reach out for help when you need it.

There really is hope available so you, your fulfillment, and your future.

We’re want to help you find relief from the emptiness, the despair, the futility, and instead experience the joy of living a rewarding life.

To the restoration of your best self,

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 5, 2020
Prepare Your Family to Respond to the Risk of Adolescent Suicide

September is National Suicide Prevention Month And Adolescents Have the Highest Risk

So let’s look at adolescent suicidal behavior. If you have an adolescent in your family, you may not be able to even imagine your child contemplating suicide. Or, if your child visits a psychiatrist regularly for a disorder, you may worry that he considers death or dying, and you may privately feel terrified about it. But, it’s ok to ask. Have you? This is not a taboo subject, and since risk of adolescent suicide is so much greater than it is for adults, it’s a subject to be discussed openly in every family.

Did you know that about half of all teens who attempt suicide for the first time die? 50%! It’s so alarming. How can you prepare yourself, and more importantly, prepare your child, if you had no idea she was thinking about it?

Brain and Behavior Research Foundation funds dedicated suicide researchers across the globe who seek to learn as much as possible about suicidal behavior in youths. And that gives you an edge over parents a generation ago. By studying teens who consider death, dying, and ending their own lives, these researchers have been learning ways to help you make your child at least somewhat safer.

And of course we want to do those things that can interrupt a self-destructive plan…to make time for treatment, relief, and hope.

Because one thing about adolescents is that they can be unpredictable, impulsive, impetuous, and lack emotional regulation — even when they’re healthy and having a normal day!

But, when a teen is struggling with a disorder, when his or her emotions are all over the map and something has happened that seems irreparable to him, or when he finds himself in crisis and can see no way through it, he can make an irreversible decision that silences his options.

Of course there are some teenagers who never consider self destruction. Some whose sense of survival is strong and immovable. And if you were that kind of youth yourself, you may not be able to grasp that your own teen could be different…might think there is no way out, might think that he has no other option.

Did you know that the risk for suicidal behavior in an adolescent is about 100 times higher than it is for an adult?

It’s true.

And because of this, as a parent you can’t presume this risk doesn’t apply to your family. So it can be so helpful to have some ideas about what to look for.

You need to be informed and alert enough to watch for signs that your youth could be at risk for suicidal thoughts or behaviors.

There are screening programs for uncovering risks in your youth, more sophisticated programs than charts you fill out on paper. Machine learning has been developed that collect more detailed information.

These researchers have learned that 10.7% of those who die by suicide visited the Emergency Department within the last 2 weeks.

And this will surprise you…

Their reason for the ED visit is not about suicidal thoughts…but other complaints, like chronic medical illness like diabetes or asthma, aches and pains in their body, assault, head injury, alcohol or drug intoxication, or because they are using the ED as a primary care clinic.

This is so important

It’s important because it’s during these visits for physical maladies that patients can be screened for suicidal behavior risk.

Just think about it… when someone you love attempts suicide or dies by suicide, and you realize they visited the ED 10 days earlier, how could you not want to throw your hands up?

As parents, keep this aspect of your adolescent front of mind for all medical treatment, and if you have concern that your child may be considering dying, ask for help.

Parents do the best we know, but do reach out for medical help, psychiatric evaluation, and diagnosis.

More thoughts that may surprise you:

These conditions may predispose your youth for suicidal behavior:

If they’ve attempted suicide before

(And remember, 50% of teens who attempt suicide die on the first try)

If they have problems sleeping

Or, if there is marital conflict in the home

If they have a tattoo

(Remember, not everyone who has a tattoo is at risk for suicide, but a large percentage of those who consider or attempt suicide DO have tattoos. So consider that if your child wants a tattoo that it’s not unreasonable to explore whether he may have pain he hasn’t talked about.)

Also, if they have been imprisoned (again, a source of pain)

Of course, if they have a mood disorder

And pay attention if they use negative words commonly that are associated with death, dying, evil, darkness, self-hatred, etc. Because this is also a risk factor.

Use of positive words like happy, joy, sunny, sunshine are not typically part of the vocabulary of a teen at high risk for suicidal behaviors.

Create a Safety Plan

Finally, when you do have risk of adolescent suicide in your family, participate with your youth’s healthcare team, therapist, and psychiatrist to create with your child a Safety Plan together. Identify those triggers that can increase distress and work together to find those things that can decrease it.

The effectiveness of the plan you form relies on the involvement of all involved, and your child’s willingness to help and respond.

And then, in the case of an unexpected suicidal young person, for whom you have no prepared plan, you can start by helping him or her call:

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

With all that said, remember there is an option available as a part of your safety plan that can intervene without hospitalization or a trip to the Emergency Department.

Ketamine treatment can has been so remarkable in its ability to stop suicidal thoughts in a few hours or less. It can stop them. Erase them.

And when that happens, it gives you the freedom to work on getting better. Because the crisis can pass.

This is so extraordinary that I conducted and published a retrospective chart review on a patients I’ve treated — with complicated stories, real life issues, lots of different symptoms, and the suffering that happens when treatment doesn’t work, with such promising results that I’ve had the opportunity to share what I learned with colleagues across the US and in the UK.

Ketamine treatment can rapidly replace thoughts of death and dying with hope to give you the opportunity to work toward getting better, and even remission.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we offer ketamine treatment to people as young as 14, in a safe environment during this pandemic. We see teens and adults improve dramatically every week. Not all—some teens and adults don’t respond—but many experience complete remission from their symptoms.

Risk of adolescent suicide is high. It’s the second leading cause of death in persons age 15-24.

If you or your teen suffers from symptoms of depression or suicidal thoughts or behaviors, reach out or text one of the support hotlines, or call us if you would like to consider ketamine treatment to stop those thoughts.

We understand all too well how these symptoms can not only disrupt — but endanger — your life, and we want to help. Seeing you experience relief from your pain, torment, and suffering is why we get up in the morning.

Your desire to pursue a fulfilling and rewarding life is your fundamental human need, and we want to help that happen for you.

Reach out for remission.

To the restoration of your best self,

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

September 14, 2020
Don’t Be Shy – Talk to Someone Suicidal Because You Might Save a Life

This is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Week — Be aware and reach out.

And while you may never have talked with someone who’s considering suicide, it’s likely you will at some point. Just as we need to refresh our CPR skills periodically, it’s important to refresh skills to talk to someone suicidal. It’s easy to brush off the risk as something dramatic like someone preparing to jump off a bridge. But the truth is, the guy in the next cubicle or the doctor you work with or a lady you see crying in the restroom — any of them could be struggling with suicidal thoughts.

How often have you heard people say, “he had everything to live for,” or “he seemed like such a happy guy” or “she was so much fun.” Everyone’s baffled. And yet, obviously, it wasn’t all what it seemed. But maybe nobody asked.

Most of the time, when someone reaches the point of considering suicide, it happens somewhat quietly. Thoughts of death and dying begin to creep into and then crowd their thoughts, but if you don’t ask, they may carry through on their thoughts without giving away their plans.

You have to ask.

Because, truth be told, we want to prevent suicide, don’t we? I know there are those who say that a person has the right to decide when he wants his life to end. But it’s a fallacy to assume that. Because those who have the clarity to make such a decision rationally, are the exception — not the rule.

In most cases, suicide attempts and completed suicides are the result of a desperate desire to “not live like this anymore.” It’s the result of desolate misery and finding no other option.

But there ARE options. For most people, if you can give them a way to live that’s joyful, productive, and rewarding without the incessant pain they endure, they would opt-out of death and choose a life that’s enjoyable and full of hope.

And it’s for that reason we want to prevent suicide.

To give this suffering person a chance to live well. In a moment we’ll talk more about that. But for now, let’s focus on how to prevent a useless tragedy.

So what can you do?

Be AWARE that there are hurting people around you. We all have busy lives and plenty of pressures, and it’s easy to be absorbed in our own pressures and worries and completely miss the guy we talk to every day who has actually reached the end of his endurance.

So develop the habit of asking.

Ask the people in your world how they’re doing, and listen to their response. Pay attention and show them that it really matters to you. This is paramount and is the primary way to find out if someone who crosses your path needs your help. Convey that you mean it.

“How you doing, Jack? No…I mean really. How are you doing?”

When you show that you’re not impatiently trying to give the expected greeting so they’ll disappear, but that you do truly care deeply how they are, you’re more likely to get real answers.

And little by little, you’ll become known as someone who really cares, and someone a person could actually talk to. Which is why you want to talk to someone suicidal, because your caring could possibly be life saving for them.

Understand that a person who is this depressed, or this desperate, has probably become isolated. And that’s a very lonely place.

To break that isolation, reach into it and show you care. One of the most powerful things you can do to prevent suicide is to be a friend to someone who’s isolated. Listen to them, spend time with them. BREAK the isolation.

Feeling utterly alone in the world is part and parcel to the anatomy of suicidal thoughts. And remember, you can be utterly alone in a crowded room.

Make Them Safe

So what do you do if you talk to someone suicidal..? Start by removing weapons from their environment, if you can. Remove knives from the kitchen, guns from their house, maybe even the car keys. And don’t leave them alone. Find a friend or relative they trust to stay with them. Help to make their living environment a safe place.

Also, do all you can to remove medications and alcohol from their household. Your purpose is not to control their life, but to provide safety while you find a way to give them hope.

Then tell someone. One of their friends or family. Someone you can trust who will be with them, help them feel understood and supported.

And talk with them about treatment. About someone who can help them weather this storm and find new hope and new options to help them live.

This is why you talk to someone suicidal.

Help them find it. Give them some good ideas for professional therapists. Because their life is more important than their crisis. It really can get better.

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

Especially with the help of ketamine. Know that ketamine treatment can erase suicidal thoughts in a few hours…or even less. That those horrific thoughts and images can be eradicated with the astounding effects of ketamine treatment.

And that amazing benefit can give them the chance at life they wish they had had before…and give them the opportunity to find relief, restoration, and remission from depression and suicidal thinking.

So there may very well be a solution. But how will they know unless you talk to someone suicidal and tell them? Suicidal thoughts are not limited by age, income, or any demographic. Children are susceptible, doctors and nurses are, investors and teachers are, your co-workers are.

There is an alarming increase in suicide among doctors. No one is immune. So reach out and talk. And listen.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we take suicidal thoughts very seriously. We offer ketamine treatment for suicidal thoughts and are thrilled to see the freedom from torment ketamine can provide. Someone whose life is at risk — high risk — because their thoughts are bombarded with death, dying, and ending their own lives, can walk out of our office relieved, hopeful, and grateful that those thoughts are gone.

Ketamine treatment can be transformative, not just for suicidal thinking but also for the symptoms of depression, despair, substance use disorders including alcohol, PTSD, and anxiety. We share the joy of our patients as they walk out with hope and in remission.

Not always, of course, and not everyone. Ketamine treatment is not a cure-all for everyone. No treatment is.

But is may be what helps you when nothing else has. It may be what finally puts your symptoms into remission. If you yearn for the benefits ketamine can provide, call us.

We want to see you enjoying your life with hope and freedom from torment. Life can be rewarding and productive for you. Relationships can be strong and fulfilling.

Reach out for hope. We’re here to help.

To the restoration of your best self,

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

September 7, 2020
COVID Hassles Annoying? Ketamine Can Help You Embrace Living Again

COVID-19 – Growing number of people suffer from anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts who’ve never faced mental health issues before.

We’ve talked about it before, but the numbers are growing. Quarantine, masks and gloves, working from home, kids schooling at home, social distancing, Zoom meetings. It’s not just the change in routine, it’s the feeling of isolation, of needing a break. Sometimes you just want to go out to eat on Friday night…right? But with businesses closed, you can’t. Cabin fever with tired parents, kids bouncing off the walls… where do you go to get refreshed? With COVID hassles annoying, ketamine can help you break through and enjoy your life again.

You wanna hang out with the girls, paint a picture, drink wine, and chat till the cows come home. But you can’t.

Or go to the gym every morning and work out your frustrations, break a sweat… and go home loose and ready for the day. But the gyms aren’t open.

2020 has been a tough year. A year you won’t likely forget.

Of course, if you’ve gotten sick with this coronavirus, that’s its own battle. But for those who have dutifully worn their masks, stayed home and attended Zoom meetings all day without being infected, there is still a risk caused by the stress of confinement and isolation.

And it’s serious enough that far too many people have succumbed and faced psychiatric disorders for the first time in their lives.

A poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 45% of those who responded to the poll in April 2020 stated their mental health had suffered during COVID. That was 10% more than the previous month.

Social isolation in adolescents increases fear and worry, which create their own type of stress, wearing down coping skills. Too often, those worry cycles plunge to suicidal thoughts, and the desire to escape the misery.

Seniors are also at increased risk. Those who are shut-ins rely on loved ones for the stimulation, interaction, and camaraderie to keep their outlook bright. Without those regular visits, hopelessness can quickly wear down their purpose and resilience.

Common Sense Says Isolation Takes a Toll

This is not to BLAME the pandemic, but to recognize that people all around us need a lift these days. Every bit of interaction is restorative for the speaker and for the listener… or both.

It’s one thing to show compassion to those who have suffered from mental health disorders all their lives, because it’s certainly true that each of you need extra support through these times.

But, isn’t it alarming to realize so many people have been so negatively impacted by the pandemic, with all its inconveniences and isolation, that they’ve used up their coping ability and have also succumbed to depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts?

So let’s look at this more closely.

True, this pandemic has caused annoying inconveniences, some more difficult to bear than others. But we can’t go back in time, can we? We can’t undo the release of this virus, its spread around the world, the cost to families, the economy, and our general well-being.

COVID Hassles Annoying – Ketamine Can Restore Resilience

At the same time, we don’t have to break under its influence, right?

In times like these, mastering the art of bending, adapting to circumstances, can keep you feeling like you actually ARE in control.

That means if you’re accustomed to traveling on a whim, and you’re not so free to do that right now, you can shudder and fume at the frustration; or you can set travel aside for a better time and choose something new and accessible for your stimulation and reward now.

An IT guy built his own igloo shaped pizza oven in his backyard. Never laid a brick in his life. But he invented a new interest and poured himself into it. And in so doing, kept anxiety and depression at bay.

It was a whole new adventure for him… that began with a new and surprising thought.

A school bus driver had no students to drive on her bus since students were learning online from home. So she dove into art development tutorials, and mastered skills in drawing beautiful, life-like animals.

Pandemic? What pandemic?? She was having too much fun to notice.

Adapting means changing course to accommodate changing circumstances.

That’s not to say these responses are always successful. But they are, more often that not.

On the other hand, warding off symptoms of anxiety and depression by inventing new stimulating interests, honing new skills, or finding new forms of entertainment, are sometimes not enough.

There are those who know these principles, but in this atmosphere found symptoms of anxiety, depression, and despair creeped over them in spite of their efforts to escape.

Sometimes that happens.

Sometimes listlessness takes over, with severely reduced energy, a bleak outlook, hopelessness, and a lost sense of your own worth.

Which can make way for thoughts of dying. Thoughts that there’s nowhere to go from here. Thoughts that you’ve spent all you have to give, you’re depleted, and your life is finished.

And those thoughts can become dangerous for you.

If you find that the thoughts of death, dying, and despair are prevalent for you, there is help.

COVID hassles annoying – ketamine treatment can erase suicidal thoughts

As much as we talk about ketamine treatment demonstrating extraordinary responses in those who are depressed, or suffer from PTSD, or substance abuse, or even anorexia nervosa, it’s also remarkable in its prowess for erasing suicidal thoughts.

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

Suicidal thoughts can be plaguing you to desperation, then an infusion of ketamine can make those thoughts disappear in a few hours.

Life saving.

Astounding.

It’s so dramatic that I published a retrospective chart review of my own patients in my large practice.

This treatment can erase those thoughts without hospitalization or emergency department visits, and give you the freedom to safely get better and enjoy life again.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we treat patients with ketamine treatment for depression, social anxiety, PTSD, alcohol use disorder, and substance use disorder. And we also treat suicidal thoughts for their own sake.

If keeping yourself diverted, seeking new stimulation and developing new interests to get through these times with healthy hope stops working… if you feel yourself sinking into a sense of loss, confusion, despair, call us.

We can help you find joy again. Invigoration instead of despondency.

And if you feel like you don’t want to live, please call us.

With ketamine treatment, you can be free of those thoughts and feelings, and find them replaced with hope and rewards in life.

To the restoration of your best self,

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

August 31, 2020
School’s Starting: How’s Your Teen Now? Watch for Anger, Depression, Anxiety

School is starting for the 2020-21 school year, whether remotely or on campus.

Never before have these students started a new school year during a pandemic. It’s been over 100 years since the last one, and few of those students are still alive. But these students, yours and mine, are pioneers now. School’s starting, how’s your teen coping with what lies ahead? They’re facing a new school year with social distancing, mask wearing, frequent hand washing… and they’re also facing new subjects, anxiety about whether the pressure will be too much, whether they’re up for the task… and they’re concerned about socializing.

Some have already started. The desks are six feet apart, they’re wearing masks. And they feel uncertain. Shy… afraid they’ll do something wrong. Others are afraid of the long hours at their desks… Because those need movement and stimulation. They’re afraid of consequences.

Some of our students will take whatever changes they face in stride. Those are the adaptable ones. But others won’t.. because change causes them to suffer anxiety.

While, as a parent, you may be eagerly awaiting school to start so you can get those kids back into school, since you may have had them home since March.

But, make sure you’re in tune with them. Listen to their fears and don’t dismiss them. No matter how you feel about what’s happening in the world, your teen may not be equipped to handle the early adjustments of this new experience.

Because here’s the thing… stress, especially long term continuous stress, can lead to circuitry damage in their brain cells…and that damage can result in depression.

Stress Damages. In Fact, It Can Kill.

In a teen, depression doesn’t usually come with a label written across their forehead.

It may look like anger or rebellion. It may look like laziness. It may look like stubbornness.

And symptoms like these are actually depression, PTSD, bipolar depression, substance abuse, social anxiety, suicidal thoughts… and if it is, it may need treatment.

Because these conditions create their own fallout, like poor grades, inappropriate behavior, non-compliance…

Then, without proper and EFFECTIVE treatment, the condition can deteriorate to criminal behavior…or even suicide.

Suicide is the 3rd cause of death among teens.

Did you know?

If your teen talks about wanting to die, listen.

Adolescents are emotional, their hormones rage, and they sometimes seem to be all over the map.

But listen to them with respect.

Because you need to watch… since school’s starting: How’s your teen doing?

Parents of teens who have ended their own lives will be the first to say that dismissing these claims was a mistake. But in retrospect they realized their child had been crying for help for a long time.

Is a “cry for help” really just manipulation?

No…a cry for help is a plea for HELP. And what seems to you to be a solvable, transient struggle – or growing pains – to your teen may seem like the end of the world.

Don’t let it be.

Now, it can get tricky.

If your adolescent has never been diagnosed with a disorder, you may not realize his disorder is escalating. A fellow psychiatrist tells the story of seeing a 14 year-old he’d known since he was born as a family friend.

During the intake evaluation, he finds out the boy has been deeply subdued, without joy, extremely shy, and having difficulty making himself participate in school work. He looks at the parents and asks, Why am I just now hearing about this??

Truth be told, if the boy’s parents had perceived psychiatric care in the same category as dental care, he would have. But, they’d never dealt with a disorder in the family before and didn’t know how to identify it. They tried more structure, more emotional support, more consequences… until one evening they found him in the fetal position in the shadows…and realized they needed help.

Your heart goes out to that fellow.

And it goes out to his parents, too.

Because they loved him and wanted him to be happy. They just didn’t recognize the signs.

What about you?

And what about your teen?

Would you know the signs if your teen displayed the need for help?

Are you sure? His life may depend on it.

So think about this:

Has your son or daughter suffered a severe loss like a crippling humiliation, a lost relationship, or death of someone close…?

What about substances like drugs or alcohol…?

Has he or she been depressed for a long time? Has treatment helped? Because if it hasn’t, it’s the same as no treatment at all.

Has he or she ever been abused physically, emotionally, or verbally? Are you sure?

Does he or she suffer from a dual diagnosis, like bipolar depression and substance use disorder, or depression and anxiety, or PTSD and alcohol use disorder..?

Has there ever been a suicide attempt before?

Has there been an arrest before?

These are all risk factors for potential suicide attempt or completion. Any of these indicate the need for special care.

Further, if your teen talks about death, or feeling rotten inside, or hopeless, or worthless… is withdrawn, sullen, and talks about violence, or wanting to die, reach out for help.

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

At Innovative Psychiatry, we offer ketamine treatment every week. Specifically, if you’ve tried other antidepressant medication trials for at least a few months each, and have experienced no relief, ketamine treatment can help you achieve remission when other medicines didn’t come close.

And if you endure suicidal thoughts and visuals, ketamine can erase those thoughts in a few short hours…maybe less.

In this era of psychiatric treatment, you just don’t have to endure without treatment… or with treatment that doesn’t work.

So… like I said, school’s starting: How’s your teen doing now?

We treat adolescents and adults, age 14 and up with ketamine treatment when it’s appropriate, and celebrate with our patients as they complete treatment and walk out with the joy of a life of freedom of symptoms.

While ketamine treatment doesn’t affect everyone this way, it does do this for most. And there are other ground breaking treatments you can try if you’re one of those rare people not transformed by ketamine.

Thankfully, we no longer live in the Dark Ages even our grandparents did when it comes to psychiatric care. There is hope now. Wholeness. Remission.

If you struggle with symptoms like we’ve talked about here, call us.

We want to help you glide through the challenges ahead with resilience.

To the restoration of your best self,

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

August 17, 2020
Suicidal Risk Triggered by Stressors in the Covid-19 Crisis

Russell paced back and forth by the window.

The gray, rainy morning had finally broken and sunshine peeked through the clouds as they parted. Patches of clear blue were spreading across the sky. It seemed to Russell this change in the weather should brighten his thoughts, but they didn’t. He guessed it would take something much more powerful than a weather change to alter his outlook. He thought about how dark he felt…and wondered if there was suicidal risk triggered by stressors that affected people right now.

Russell was losing his belief in living. This wasn’t the first time he’d felt such futility in the daily endurance exercise that characterized his life. He’d felt hopeless before — but with time, a new job, and better pay, he’d lightened up and everything began to make sense again.

Then, he met someone and felt like he was basically sitting on top of the world. He hoped he could keep his life working so well. The idea that joy would become commonplace for him… that would be so great.

The job was such a good fit. And he seemed to learn it quickly. His skills improved every week and every month… then he was promoted. His boss would pat him on the back…tell him to keep up the good work and all that.

He believed he had a real future in this job…and a career in the making.

Jenna came along, and maybe it’s because he was feeling so much better, or maybe it was because she was so amazing…but it was easy to talk to her, and so rewarding to listen. It wasn’t long until they were spending lots of time together.

Then, the coronavirus crisis took over the world. There was no place to escape to…it had covered the entire globe! Nowhere was safe.

Settling Into a New Normal in a Global Crisis

He was assigned to work from home. That was ok. Not great. It wasn’t easy to do as well, or be as creative, under these circumstances. But he was grateful for the paycheck. Surely this was a temporary setback.

Next thing he knew, however, the governor ordered a lockdown. HIs company laid off thousands of people. And he was included in the second round of cutbacks.

So, now he’s home, he has no job, and no way to get one. Russell made a point to watch the statistics around the world to see if the tide was turning yet. He was lonely, and he missed Jenna. Even though it helped to talk on the phone or online. There were plenty of apps to connect with her. But it wasn’t the same.

The Crisis Hits Close to Home: Fighting Panic

One day, she sent him a text. “Russell, my sister Beth tested positive for the coronavirus today. She’s self-quarantined in her apartment. I’m so worried. And my mom is beside herself.”

Russell tried to be understanding…this was terrifying. He wondered when Jenna last saw her sister. When her mother had last seen Beth. He wondered if either of them had been exposed.

This made it all seem so much more real. More threatening, to himself and everyone he cared about.

He felt horrifically helpless. So he paced. He washed his hands for good measure. Then paced more.

Darn! It’s so hard to feel useless like this!! He checked on Jenna often, and always remembered to ask about Beth’s condition.

Finally, it turned out that Beth was being transported to the hospital. She was struggling to breathe at all.

Russell felt his throat closing. He fought panic.

Jenna was devastated about her sister’s decline. She said their mom was in a heap. Neither Jenna nor her mom could be at the hospital with Beth.

Weeks were going by.

How could you stand with someone if you couldn’t be near them? How do you do it all verbally? He feared his relationship with Jenna was disintegrating like his job had. But he knew her primary concern was her sister, and he was sure worried about her, too.

Russell had never been the best communicator. In times of difficulty it was hard to find the words. He’d always made up for it with effort. Showing his support with hugs, helping out with food, etc.

He had no idea how to do that from miles away.

He feared his relationship with Jenna was disintegrating like his job had. But he knew her primary concern was her sister, and he was sure worried about her too.

And felt so helpless.

When he wasn’t talking or texting with Jenna, he was applying for jobs online. It seemed he had surely applied for hundreds of them by now. But nothing. No responses to his applications. He could only imagine the number of applicants competing for each job. He was sure it was more than ever before in his life.

Still he kept applying.

It was good to stay busy, and at the same time, it felt so futile.

Weeks turned into months, and he finally applied for unemployment. Sickening.

How could everything be so good, then take a 90-degree turn straight into the toilet??

As if it all wasn’t enough, he heard from Jenna about her sister. Beth, who’d been in the ICU on a ventilator, finally died. They had thought she was improving…thought she would come off the ventilator soon… then suddenly, she deteriorated. And died.

Russell was stunned. Speechless.

Jenna was heartbroken. Blind with grief. He tried so hard to comfort her. To listen. But there was nothing he could say to relieve her pain.

He couldn’t go to her, hold her, take her out to dinner so she could vent. And her mom was grief stricken and seemed to expect Jenna to comfort her.

He couldn’t think. It was as if the entire world was self-destructing around him. His head was spinning.

Profound Grief Causes Its Own Isolation

Jenna seemed to just be gutted…depleted…with no more to give to anyone.

She withdrew after that. She and her mom could not have a funeral for Beth. As the days went on, they both seemed more and more traumatized by the circumstances surrounding Beth’s death.

Russell became less and less vital to their grief, it seemed. If they needed his support, he didn’t know how to give it. He felt so useless. So powerless. Utterly flabbergasted that life had collapsed as it had in a couple short months.

The grief he felt for Jenna’s loss eroded his foundations. His resilience. The energy seemed to drain out of him. His hope disappeared.

He’d been in his house for 2 months, and the strain, disappointment, disillusionment, loss, confusion, and anxiety of his circumstances became worse and worse until they were unbearable.

He saw no reason to go on. He looked at the future through his dark perspective, and it looked hopeless.

Even after the lockdown was lifted, he still wouldn’t have a job, right along with millions of other people. He would be evicted from his apartment, and lose his car.

The melancholy of the past swelled until he was drowning in it. Russell just didn’t have the energy to go on. He didn’t believe he was strong enough to face any more…

He wanted to die. Every hope… every purpose… for living was gone. He couldn’t see how he could go on…

Russell’s Not Alone: So Many Fight Despair in Times Like This

The crisis created by this COVID-19 coronavirus is creating stressors and fears that go far beyond the risk of the viral illness. And as our friend Russell identified, there is no where to escape to.

Hundreds of thousands of people feel the same feelings and are thinking the same thoughts. But in each case, the situation is not necessarily as it seems.

Unfortunately, it is what seems to be true that people all too often act upon. And suicidal risk triggered by stressors in this crisis rises higher and higher.

However — and this is important — thinking about suicide is not logical thinking, even though it may seem to be at the time. Suicidal thoughts are symptoms of a disordered mind.

Suicidal Risk Triggered by Stressors in This COVID-19 Crisis

The stress of isolation, financial difficulties and strain, the uncertainties about income in the future, the emotional pressure of being separated from those you care about and who care about you, combined with a host of feelings that come out of nowhere in a time like this… can push you to the point of desperation.

And…if you’ve struggled with psychiatric symptoms in the past, these elements can put you at higher risk.

But There Are Ways to Find Relief

However, as overwhelming as circumstances appear, they’re still temporary. They will change. Life will be restored. But that can be hard to grasp if the thoughts are swirling and swirling around inside your head.

Meanwhile, you can seek support from friends and family online, see their faces and vent, laugh, and cry together.

You can reach out for counseling through telemedicine. And then consider treatment.

Again, suicidal thinking is a symptom of a disordered mind.

If you find yourself thinking those thoughts, reach out for help. The circumstances of your life are not normal right now. And people everywhere are feeling similar feelings, as well as desperation, cooped up in their homes.

Suicidal Risk Triggered by Stressors Like Grief, Financial Uncertainty, and Fears of All Kinds… Can Be Lowered With Treatment

At Innovative Psychiatry, we’re treating people every week with ketamine treatment provided with carefully planned safety protocols.

Ketamine treatment is one of the most effective treatments for severe depression, bipolar depression, PTSD, social anxiety, and suicidal thoughts we know of. It also can relieve substance abuse and alcohol abuse.

As it goes to work restoring the synapses in your brain, proliferating connections between nerve cells to explode communication through your brain, it also can restore your motivation, your creativity, and your joy.

As a result, resilience replaces listlessness, energy replaces lethargy, and hope replaces despair.

In spite of how it all seems to you right now, that reality you’re experiencing is based on temporary circumstances… In the challenges ahead, how much better to have the energy and hope you need to conquer and create a reality that fulfills you?

There is a future. And you’re in it.

You can reduce the suicidal risk triggered by stressors in your life by reaching out for ketamine treatment. If you’re experiencing some of the things Russell is, call us.

Give yourself, and those who love you, the benefit of treatment that can give you a new lease on life. You can be amazed at how the direction of your thinking transforms.

There is life beyond this COVID-19 crisis. And you’re in it …with a bright future.

To the resilience of your best self,

April 27, 2020
When You’re Tormented by Fear, PTSD, and Panic in Isolation

Shannon awoke, looked around the room hoping the new day would reveal it had all been a nightmare, and that life was back to normal.

But when she saw the the shattered mirror – cracks spreading out from a broken center – she remembered hitting it with her fist last night and realized nothing had changed. She looked at her hand…to see if it was cut. It was no surprise to see the cuts on the heel of her hand, the dried blood. It looked like the damage was minor and it would heal on its own. Why do fear, PTSD, and panic strike so hard at night?

The nights were hard.

Stay Safe, Stay Home the governor had said…

But for someone like Shannon, these instructions were costly. She understood it was important. But the silence, the darkness, the feeling that the walls were closing in turned her apartment into a house of horrors at times. Those sounds she couldn’t identify that made the hair stand up on the back of her neck and her heart race.

She’d grab the 18” long flashlight she kept in bed with her, to defend herself if an intruder broke in. The baseball bat was just under her bed if she needed it.

Last night she couldn’t see anyone, but the sounds started reverberating around her, and she finally exploded through the house ready to fight. She screamed, she cried, and she finally sank to the floor sobbing.

She’d wanted to die. She wondered how she could escape her life and her terrifying thoughts.

The mirror happened at some point during that experience and she wished she had never woken up again. But she did.

Right now she was calm. Why did she get so wound up by the dark?

Fear, PTSD, and Panic Attacks Seem to Get Worse at Night

All day she tried to manage herself. Her doctor had reminded her to try to avoid news broadcasts and news websites. Just reading about all the evolving changes in the city and country every day was overwhelming and depressing. Her doctor had pointed out that the sheer volume of information was too much for anyone to digest.

Instead she encouraged Shannon to find people online she could encourage. Or to offer to pick up groceries for people in the apartment complex who were at greater risk for the COVID-19 virus.

She’d said that doing things to help others can give her more peace and good feelings. And can help her stay balanced.

But it was hard.

Even though Shannon had followed her doctor’s advice, even interacting with friends on social media was becoming more challenging as more and more people were spewing anger, rage, and blame.

Sometimes it seemed as though fear attracted fear. And she wondered how to attract optimism, instead.

Listening to the rants of her friends stirred up her anger, too. But more than anger was the fear that their fears ignited.

And when you have a disorder, fear can present its own danger.

Counting her pills helped her verify she had been taking her meds on schedule. Of all times, this weird time shut in her apartment was not the time to miss her meds. She needed all the help she could get and she knew it.

Shannon decided she better request an online meeting with her doctor on the secure server. She thought she better tell her what happened last night. She didn’t want to.

It was embarrassing, but she was learning that facing her symptoms in all their “glory” gave the doctor the information needed to make sure her meds were at the best dosage.

She’d only been coming clean with her doctor for a couple years. Before that, she’d always tried to protect herself with a clean and respectable image and then everything would fall apart. She guessed she’d learned that her condition wasn’t something she should be ashamed of, but rather a condition with symptoms she and her doctor worked together to manage.

It had lifted a load off her to finally accept the condition rather than hide it. She wondered…if she did die here, how long would it be before they found her body…?

Shannon forced herself to stop thinking that way. She just had to not think like that…but how could she make the thoughts go away?

The Relief Ketamine Treatment Can Bring

Next door, Sam woke up after the night of bumping, pounding, broken glass, screaming, and crying that kept him awake last night, wondering how he could face the day. He thought he might have dozed for an hour or two in all.

One of the hard things about working at home was the desire to crawl back into bed or doze on the couch when he was tired.

Nevertheless, he showered, got his coffee, and sat at his computer at 8:30am right on schedule.

Fear, PTSD, and Panic Attacks Can Affect People Near You, Too

As his day began, he was distracted thinking about all the noise from next door. It wasn’t the first time. He wondered if the person who lived there was being mistreated by someone or if she was there alone.

If she was there alone, he sure could understand this social distancing getting to her. It seemed to him that social distancing is great for happy introverts who want to quietly read books or something but it had to be hard for people who draw their energy from spending time with other people.

As for himself, he was just so relieved that he had as much self control in these circumstances as he did.

For years, PTSD had kept him so torn up, so terrified at times, that his wife and children were afraid of him. Being shut in like this would have been really really hard.

But he was lucky.

He’d learned about a treatment that helped him find a calm, a feeling of well-being, and a peace he didn’t know was possible.

His buddies from Afghanistan had talked about all kinds of special treatments. There were camps people went to that were so expensive, he didn’t have the means to try them.

One of his friends came back doing somewhat better, but still had the awful flashbacks at times. A couple others didn’t get much out of it…after all that money.

There were counseling programs, outpatient medicines, and more.

But one guy told him about ketamine treatment. And this guy seemed almost well. Hard to believe but he did. They became good friends and talked more and more often. He said that fear, PTSD, and panic were much more rare now.

Turned out the guy went for 6 treatments at his psychiatrist’s office… and he just kept feeling more and more normal.

So Sam looked into it. He found out he could get special financing from a medical loan service, so he went for it.

That was a year and a half ago, and he was just so glad for his calmer frame of mind during this lockdown. He could only imagine what this period of time would be like otherwise. Fear, PTSD, and panic would have been the fabric of his existence. But…

By eating healthy, working out in his living room over lunch hour, and looking for ways to help people around him, he felt a bit more like a hero to some of the older people in his complex, and less like someone who came home from the war broken.

He did attend an online meeting for people with PTSD once a week, and tried to apply everything the therapist suggested. But he also felt like he had things he could contribute, too. This treatment almost seemed to increase his insight into the trauma he experienced, so the more meetings he attended, the less victimized he felt.

Sam wished he could help the girl next door. He wished he had something to offer. He needed to think about that more. Maybe he could come up with something to cheer her up without having actual contact with her.

He felt so privileged to be living this well. It was as if he’d been to hell and back…and he just wanted to give something somehow to those who hadn’t found the freedom he had.

Weathering The Coronavirus Crisis

As you get through the days in your home, you look around you, and there are people in all the other homes and apartments you see. Some are coping fine, though they may be getting cabin fever. Others are working hard, with some tension building as they work because of the conditions in the world.

But some are suffering. Fear, PTSD, and panic attacks along with severe depression threaten the health and wellbeing and sometimes the lives of some. From ailments that make life alone at home a lot harder. And those whose symptoms are intensified by the isolation they feel may be suffering more than you can imagine.

Here at Innovative Psychiatry, we’re seeing patients every day. Our psychopharmacology patients we see by telemedicine. It’s important for all of us to avoid face to face contact, but it’s also important to take care of our patients.

And those patients who need ketamine treatment? We’re carefully treating you here at the office. Using a safety protocol that protects you, and protects us, too.

We’ll screen you for exposure to COVID-19 to protect your safety and ours, as well.

Ketamine treatment can help ease your symptoms, improving the neuroplasticity in your brain cells, so you can change the way you see things, and respond to them.

And …often even separately from your symptom improvement, it can erase suicidal thoughts in a few hours. If you’re isolated, and the suicidal thoughts have become overwhelming, call us.

And if you suffer with PTSD, severe depression, severe bipolar depression, with symptoms that medication doesn’t relieve, schedule a consult to see if ketamine treatment could be right for you.

For suicidal thoughts, you’ll be amazed at what ketamine treatment can do to give you peace from those.

Stay Safe, Stay Home. But if you find it too hard to get through the days and nights right now, and if the terror and despair overwhelm you, call us.

We’re here to help you achieve a healthier, more balanced frame of mind to see you through the current crisis and beyond.

You can get through this, with help. We’re all in it together.

To the restoration of your best self,

April 6, 2020
Does Hopelessness Accompany Suicidal Thoughts or Cause Them?

Tim dragged himself into the school cafeteria where the photographers had set up equipment to take school pictures.

He felt angry, bitter, sullen, and hopeless. What purpose could there be in school pictures? What’s the point? he thought. Tim hated being at school. He felt like he would self-destruct if he didn’t get out of there. Then it was his turn for his portrait. He stared at the camera. The photographer said, “Smile!” (Does hopelessness accompany suicidal thoughts…or cause them?)

He just stared straight ahead. Enduring. He knew if he smiled it would make him look like a horror-movie character. Click. Flash. And it was over.

Tim got up, and dragged himself out of the cafeteria and out the back door of the school. He shuffled home. He couldn’t stand being there any longer.

Right behind Tim in the line a pretty girl waited her turn. Emily smiled for the camera. She didn’t want to. But she tried to do the right thing. Her sad eyes gave away her despair. Emily lived in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other, got together, barbecued, and enjoyed the community.

The problem with that is that one of her neighbors offered to spend time helping her with her music lessons. Her parents encouraged her to take advantage of the expertise of this “nice man.” Luis was 41, college educated, and very musical.

Emily didn’t know how to tell her parents that every time she went to his house, he had other ideas in mind. She felt ashamed. Troubled. Scared. Dirty.

She tried to be responsible and do everything expected of her. Her parents just knew she was a good student, kind, and obedient. Does hopelessness accompany suicidal thoughts…or cause them?

Once when Emily tried to tell her mom about Luis, her mom corrected her before she could get it out. She told her to be sure to be respectful toward him when she was at his house.

Emily clammed up.

But she was reaching the breaking point. After two years, she didn’t think she could take this any longer. She didn’t know how to stop it. She was feeling more and more hopeless that there would ever be an end to it. And Luis threatened that if she told anyone he would hurt her family.

So Does Hopelessness Accompany Suicidal Thoughts or Cause Them?

Both Tim and Emily were losing their strength to hang on. Of the two, Tim was the most likely to be identified by teachers as one who might need to see a psychiatrist. His facial expressions, attitude, and disposition made him a likely candidate for that kind of help.

Emily, on the other hand, seemed quiet, compliant, and responsible to the school staff. Her teachers guessed she must come from a very nice family. Emily’s depression wasn’t easy to notice because she didn’t let it show. Her goal was to please those in authority in her life.

Tim’s doctor, on the other hand, diagnosed him with bipolar II disorder. He prescribed medication, but Tim did not feel much better.

Tim directed his anger at his dad. Because he felt his dad lacked understanding for his condition. He resented his dad expecting him to function when he felt so bad. He wished he could crawl into a hole and hide from the world.

Emily felt completely alone in the world because she couldn’t talk to anyone about what she was going through. And though her parents were good people, they had no idea she continuously faced such a horror.

We can look at Tim and Emily and draw our own conclusions. But you have to ask yourself does hopelessness accompany suicidal thoughts…or does it cause them?

Tim’s problem wasn’t his dad so much as the symptoms of his illness that weren’t relieved by his medicine. And Tim didn’t know how to approach his dad in a way to help him see what he was going through. His dad just felt he needed to discipline his belligerent son.

In Emily’s case, it seemed that her problems could be resolved by simply blowing the whistle on Luis. That message is plastered on the walls of the school… “Tell someone!”

She’d heard that message all her life. She could go to the school nurse, or a teacher she trusted, or even a police officer. But she didn’t. When she would think about it, all she could think of was how hurt her parents would be that she talked to a stranger instead of keeping their business in the family.

She was also afraid her dad might do something crazy to Luis that would get him arrested, then what would her mom and brothers do?

Every time she thought about talking to someone she hit a wall of all the reasons why she couldn’t…

Then, in a two week period, two students in the high school took their own lives.

Everyone wondered why.

No one dreamed Emily was sad or had any reason to do such a thing. Except her heartbroken parents… because Emily left a note. And Luis was arrested.

Tim’s dad was devastated. He’d been doing his best to help Tim get the treatment he needed, but each new medication required several weeks –sometimes months — to see if it helped him feel better. Talk therapy takes time, everyone said. And he hadn’t heard of a treatment like IV ketamine. He just assumed Tim’s doctor would do what was best for his son.

It was so hard to know the difference between his son’s bipolar symptoms and just a bad rebellious attitude. He worried about it all the time. Just not knowing how to respond to Tim’s responses. He wished he had a guide book. But now it was too late. He just didn’t realize how severe it was.

These two deaths stunned and rocked the school they both attended. Two very different students who didn’t know each other, but who both could have been helped…if only…

Does hopelessness accompany suicidal thoughts…or does it cause them?

If you knew Tim or Emily, you’d likely have been grief stricken by their deaths. Probably baffled. And for good reason. Because hopelessness and despair come in different forms. And you probably wish you could have helped them.

Tim’s hopelessness was within him, as a symptom of a severe and difficult-to-treat illness.

Tim probably spent most of his time in the throes of bipolar depression. When your mind and outlook are so dark so much of the time, you can desperately need a break from it.

But if you know of no medicine that will supply that break for you… if your doctor knows of no medicine that will help without trying one after another… you get your hopes up over and over…only to experience a new type of grim despair. Hopelessness grows after years of this…and it may dawn on you there’s nothing that can help.

And you don’t know where to look for hope.

Emily’s hopelessness was internal, too. She felt trapped by an external force. If that external force could have been removed from her life, she probably could have recovered. Unless conditions like PTSD or severe depression complicated her condition. But even those conditions can be relieved with a novel and advanced treatment like IV ketamine.

Children and teens should be able to live healthy, active, trusting lives in a perfect world. But it’s not a perfect world.

When they’re assaulted, and wounded, they may need special care with a skilled therapist, support from friends and family, and treatment to help them heal. Sometimes that can be treatment with a novel, advanced treatment like IV ketamine.

A group of researchers led by Ilya Baryshnikov, M.D., asked whether the hopelessness people with depressive disorders experience is a crucial predictor of suicidal thoughts and plans.

They guessed that hopelessness was the sign that a person would be having suicidal thoughts, so they conducted an in-depth study which was just published this month in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

They followed 406 people for 10 years, and used diagnostic tools to determine what role hopelessness played, as well as what role the severity of the depression played, in each person’s experience with suicidal thoughts.

Standard tools like Scale for Suicidal Ideation, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Perceived Social Support Scale – Revised, and Eysenck Personality Inventory helped them evaluate the state of mind as well as personality traits of their subjects.

They found that hopelessness served to explain the suicidal thoughts, but wasn’t so much a crucial prerequisite… and that it’s actually the severity of the depression that leads to suicidal thoughts.

In the cases of Tim and Emily, both needed intervention. For Tim, IV ketamine could have possibly changed his whole world. By helping him to achieve remission, and restoring his energy and hope, his world — and his relationship with his dad — could have been transformed.

It’s likely his dad, like so many, had no idea that IV ketamine was an option. Much less understanding about what it could do for his son.

For Emily, it is possible the long term stress of abuse wore down her resilience, undermining her resolve to protect herself and report Luis. To trust her parents and make them listen, so they could help.

In her case, too, IV ketamine could have helped restore her emotional strength to do what was needed to make herself and other girls in her neighborhood safe …to speak up.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we see teens like Tim and Emily — and find the transformative effects of IV ketamine treatment can bring restoration not only to their outlook, but to many aspects of their lives. Relationships grow stronger, energy for school improves their performance, and their hope and joy billow. Not for everyone, certainly, but for most,

If you, or your teen, have been depressed from major depressive disorder or from bipolar depression, and oral antidepressants aren’t working, call us. Let’s talk about whether you’re a candidate for IV ketamine treatment.

If you’ve suffered from a major trauma that other treatments haven’t helped, call us. IV ketamine treatment can restore you if PTSD has impaired your function in life.

IV ketamine can be dramatically effective also with severe social anxiety, alcohol abuse disorder, substance abuse disorder, and can stop suicidal thinking in an afternoon.

We want you, and your teen, to be restored to the best you ever, and have a rewarding a fulfilling life with your own joy… and hope… abounding.

To the restoration of your best self,

March 2, 2020
Reach Out for Ketamine… to Get Better… and Make 2020 Your Best Year Yet

This is the first Monday of the New Year…so how do you start a new year?

With resolutions? A diet? Maybe more exercise? Lots of people do. But what about you? What if you don’t have an appetite…? Might be hard to stick to a diet more than a couple days… and what if you haven’t slept in days…and you’re exhausted… who cares about the new year and any good intentions? When you feel crummy, the beginning of the year seems like just more of the same ol’ misery. Maybe you wonder, why try? You’ve been so depressed, with so much anxiety, and have felt so alone, so vacant, for so looong, it seems futile to try something new… BUT. What if there really IS an answer that could sweep away your misery and you could finally feel like the best you you’ve ever been…? I know, you probably think that sounds impossible. But wait a sec…this is the 21st century, my friend. Treatments have improved. Or a better way to put it, there’s now a treatment that’s a game changer. But it won’t come to you. You’ll have to reach out for ketamine so you can get better now. You’ll have to do something…because this treatment won’t magically show up in your living room. So why not do it now?

IV Ketamine Treatment – The Game Changer for Psychiatric Disorders

Of course, I’m talking about the treatment that came out of the woodwork the last decade. The one that started as a trusted anesthesia medicine listed on the World Health Organization (WHO) List of Essential Medicines. The one that’s been so safe for 50 years that it’s been used in surgical settings for people of all ages across the globe, and also in surgical settings for pets of all sizes.

Like most exceptional medicines that are designed for sedation and/or pain relief, it’s been abused by people on the street and in the club scene for its dissociative side effects. As a result, it’s sometimes been misunderstood as a result.

But under psychiatric supervision, it’s nothing less than extraordinary in its effect on people whose disorder has not responded to traditional medications. Which is one of its many endearing charms.

Why wait any longer? Why not reach out for ketamine now and start this new decade on far better footing..? Stick your neck out and make the call for treatment now because you deserve the chance to live a fulfilling life, free of symptoms that keep your life shackled.

Ketamine Treatment Relieves a Broad Variety of Disorder Symptoms

It happened last week, and it shocked me. Someone asked me about the best treatments for depression, anxiety, and PTSD. As I began to talk about treatments, I saw a blank look on his face when I mentioned ketamine infusions. He’d never heard about them…! And I realized that though this medicine is always in my radar, there are countless people who know nothing about what it can do.

Someone who suffers from unrelenting and severe depression, bipolar depression, PTSD, OCD, social anxiety, substance use disorder, alcohol use disorders – and sometimes eating disorders like Anorexia Nervosa – can achieve remission with IV ketamine treatment.

IV ketamine treatment can be a bit tepid in relieving symptoms for those with milder cases. But, let me quickly say that when you feel bad, it doesn’t feel mild. And that’s why we have criteria to help us measure the severity of each case.

Just knowing how severe it is – or not – can guide us in how to treat it. When we see someone who has suffered with symptoms for years in spite of multiple medication trials, in spite of other treatments, who has also been hospitalized for symptoms, and may have attempted suicide multiple times, we realize this patient has suffered severely for a very long time. And patients like this usually experience a dramatic remission after IV ketamine treatment.

Not always. But usually…

IV ketamine treatment doesn’t work like this for everyone… sadly, not even for everyone who’s severely ill. But it has a remarkably fast and vigorously thorough effect on a very high percentage of patients… higher than any other office treatment for these disorders.

And that’s not all.

Freedom from the Doldrums

You know how it is with depression that hangs over you…month after month and year after year… even if you have a few days that are a bit better…and you can actually smile some…as soon as someone says something that hits a nerve – you plunge again…back into the pits. It’s like you have nothing to fight with, like a tightrope performer with no net. So even a lighter feeling for a few days is temporary and you know it. You can feel how fragile it is.

But with IV ketamine treatment, that fragile-ness seems to evaporate. You get offended by the guy at the party who ALWAYS has his foot in his mouth, and it burns you up. But the nosedive you expect floats away, as you think through that guy’s words and realize your peace is too important to jeopardize… and ::::poof!:::: you move on. And it’s forgotten.

One reason may be the resilience ketamine builds. You’re able to adapt and quickly recover from the offenses that happen and you have the power to just snap back and be ok. It’s amazing…in fact, it’s priceless.

So, reaching out may require that you talk to yourself. Maybe you’ll need to “psych yourself up,” but when you do whatever you need to do, and reach out for ketamine treatment, you’ll find yourself surprised at all that happens for you.

Neuroplasticity + Psychotherapy = Peace & Joy in life

Then, to point out yet another talent of this treatment, researchers and therapists have learned that because of the neuroplasticity ketamine creates in your brain circuitry, psychotherapy can be much more effective about 24 hours after an infusion.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we love working with your psychiatrist and therapist to help make that benefit available to you with scheduled infusions coordinated with your therapy appointment 24 hours later.

But, the fact is, that none of this can be available to you unless you reach out. It requires that you call us. Let us coordinate with your healthcare team.

You’re probably thinking, How Can I Do THAT? I Can’t Seem to Get Out of Bed??!!

And there’s the rub.

There is more help available for your tormentous symptoms than has ever been seen by your parents or grandparents or great grandparents…

But the biggest obstacle between you and having a healthy, balanced, rewarding life is actually a characteristic of your illness. To get to that rewarding life (you may have all but given up on,) you have to do something you may not think you can do. And here it is…

PUSH through.

…and make the call.

And you know how you can do that..?

By grabbing on to HOPE.

The drowning man has to take hold of the rope. If he’s passive and tries nothing, he’ll drown.

The mountain climber who loses his footing and careens over the cliff has to reach out and GRAB – something. A rock…a rope…a bush…?

Once you reach out, it gets easier. We step in. You’ll still have to show up, but each time it will probably get easier and easier. And as ketamine goes to work in your brain cells – the systems and circuits and structures – surging hope and strength and resilience will billow from within you.

It doesn’t happen all at once the very first minute…

Maybe it just trickles at first, but then the trickles become waves, and the joy and initiative surges, and you find you’re CAPABLE of doing things you want to do, that you’d all but forgotten about.

For some it’s during the first infusion…for some it’s after the second one. For others it’s after the third… and in some cases it’s even after the fourth.

Your family may notice the changes in you before you do. You may show unexpected initiative before you FEEL all that much better. (Miranda, are you actually folding clothes? Unbelievable!)

Reach Out for Ketamine!

More than likely, you’ve heard of ketamine treatment. Maybe you dismissed it, because you’ve heard of it as “Special K” or thought it was just a horse tranquilizer. You think it all sounds bizarre, or the creepy kind of experimental treatment that happens in somebody’s garage.

If so, maybe it’s time you do your own homework? The National Institute of Health funds extensive research about ketamine treatment because it’s so extraordinary.

Esteemed neuroscience researchers around the world submit their research to peer-reviewed medical journals. Conferences of psychiatrists, neurologists, neuroscientists, and physicians in other fields are hosted in major cities like Oxford (UK), NYC, Austin, San Francisco, and more. And this has been going on for years.

IV ketamine treatment is the most effective medicine for psychiatric disorders we’ve ever seen. It’s not FDA approved because no one wants to pay for FDA trials if they can’t make a profit off a patent. And..ketamine is too old…there’s no patent to be had.

So, we lobby for it to be covered by insurance companies, anyway. And until then, you have to pay for this treatment out-of-pocket. However, there is medical financing available everywhere. And your resurrected life, your ability to pursue your dreams, build strong, healthy relationships, and enjoy your hobbies on your terms…isn’t all that worth a small loan? To be able to live again?

Reach Out for Ketamine and Get Better for 2020

This is a new year, and a new decade. Right now, this week, is the perfect time to turn the tables on misery, take hold of your hope, and reach out to get better.

Tell yourself that it’s your turn to get better. And that you’re not going to give in to excuses. That you want to live better, healthier, and more balanced. That you want your life to BE better. Give Hope the benefit of the doubt.

This step can turn your entire life around for the better. But you’re the one who has to take it.

Because it’s not right for everyone. We need to be sure you’re a candidate. And we’ll evaluate that first.

So…you may say, What if it doesn’t work for me?

Well…we say, What if it does??

The likelihood it will transform your life is much stronger than the likelihood it won’t work for you. Much stronger.

Do you really want another decade to crawl by while you’re trapped in the misery and despair of this disorder?

Reach out for Hope and for a better life in 2020 and beyond.

We’ll walk you through the process, answer your questions, and make it as easy for you as we possibly can. We’re here waiting for you to call us because we want to see you enjoying a full life.

Reach out for ketamine and grab onto HOPE.

To the restoration of your best self,

January 6, 2020

Category: Suicidal Thoughts

Articles About Suicidal Thoughts by Lori Calabrese, MD | The Ketamine Blog

Suicidal Thoughts Are Caused by a Variety of Disorders and Reactions

Suicide is the Second Leading Cause of Death in 15-29 Year Olds

Talk of suicide should always be taken seriously. We don’t know for sure who among this group will follow through and who won’t. But these thoughts put any person at risk who experiences them.

Suicidal Thoughts and Actions Are a Product of a Mind Out of Order

Men Who Seek Help for Their Mental Health are Leaders

Reaching Out for Help — and Treatment — Is the Bravest and Healthiest Way to Make Your Life Count

Racism is in the news often in these times. It seems that being accused as a racist is one of the most dreaded accusations anyone can bear. And once that accusation is slung at someone, it’s hard to get out from under the the searing branding of it.

The stigma is painful. The label hurts. Those slinging those stones are not usually qualified to have any idea of its truth.

Also, just as neuroscientists have discovered more and more about what actually happens in the cells in the brain that result in a disorder, there is more and more information to fight stigma.

Which is why it’s so important that men seek help when they need it. It shows they know what’s important.

What are the risks?

Dak Prescott has been in the news because of something besides his role as a Dallas Cowboys quarterback. After his mother’s death from colon cancer in 2013, during which his brother Jace was a present support and helplessly watched her suffering, Jace took his own life in April of this year.

He spoke out in September about the importance of being vulnerable during difficult times, and reaching out for help, rather than trying to carry your pain silently inside.

Dak’s statements have opened up the dialogue again about men in masculine roles, and their difficulties in being honest and open to reach out for support and treatment.

The same can be said about other tough roles such as police and military.

Dak Prescott is joining with other male celebrities such as Dwayne Johnson, Michael Phelps, and Kevin Love, to encourage men to speak up, be honest and open about their struggles, talk about real things that matter, and embrace treatment when it’s needed.

They’re showing the world that strong men seek help when they need it, because that’s what leaders do.

The beauty of it is that there is help to be found.

He’s still a leader in his field. A leader who’s setting an example for health. A man seeks help. It’s a leadership thing…like a CEO, or an athlete, or a governor. Men seek help because they know they can’t do it all. So they choose their help wisely.

Do for yourself what Dak has done for himself. Connect with others who also struggle and seek support, and reach out for treatment here.

Recognize and Identify Depression and Seek Treatment

October is National Depression Awareness Month and October 8 is Depression Screening Day

There was a time 20 years ago when society as a whole wasn’t aware of depression. There were all sorts of judgmental criticisms of those who suffered. So there is good reason to have a dedicated day — nationally — to draw attention to a condition that needs to be identified and treated.

So let’s talk about screening.

It’s important to know if you’ve just had a tiring day…or if you’re actually bearing the weight of a condition. Depression can present itself as mild to severe and anywhere in between.

A screening tool measures – with your help – how you feel about your daily routine, about your energy, your sleep, your ability to concentrate, and your feelings about your life and future.

Of course, tools like this aren’t intended to take the place of your psychiatrist, but using the tool informally may alert you to consider making an appointment.

So you need to know what to look for in adults, teens, and children, don’t you?

1. Do you feel empty? It may feel like sadness, or futility, too.

2. Do you feel irritable..? Do you find you’re just short tempered and easily agitated?

3. Do you find you’re getting too thin, or maybe you’re suddenly gaining weight like crazy?

4. Do you think about death, about dying, about yourself dying or someone else?

5. Is it hard to focus, concentrate, on your work, or a newspaper, or TV?

AntidepressantsWhile it’s true that 35-60% of the people who have been diagnosed with depression respond to the first or second trial of oral antidepressants, there are about 35% who don’t respond to anything.

Let me be clear though, that no one treatment is the treatment of choice for all depressed patients.

Picture remission like this…energy to meet friends for lunch and really enjoy your time with them, resilience to perform well at work and excel in your job, to bounce back from disappointment, and to build strong healthy relationships.

And there’s more. Suicidal thinking is a life-threatening symptom of severe depression. IV Ketamine is also an extraordinary treatment to stop suicidal thoughts.

Get with your loved ones and screen for depression this week. Reach out and take steps to recognize and identify depression in yourself or loved ones.

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

Prepare Your Family to Respond to the Risk of Adolescent Suicide

September is National Suicide Prevention Month And Adolescents Have the Highest Risk

Did you know that about half of all teens who attempt suicide for the first time die? 50%! It’s so alarming. How can you prepare yourself, and more importantly, prepare your child, if you had no idea she was thinking about it?

And of course we want to do those things that can interrupt a self-destructive plan…to make time for treatment, relief, and hope.

But, when a teen is struggling with a disorder, when his or her emotions are all over the map and something has happened that seems irreparable to him, or when he finds himself in crisis and can see no way through it, he can make an irreversible decision that silences his options.

Did you know that the risk for suicidal behavior in an adolescent is about 100 times higher than it is for an adult?

And because of this, as a parent you can’t presume this risk doesn’t apply to your family. So it can be so helpful to have some ideas about what to look for.

These researchers have learned that 10.7% of those who die by suicide visited the Emergency Department within the last 2 weeks.

And this will surprise you…

This is so important

As parents, keep this aspect of your adolescent front of mind for all medical treatment, and if you have concern that your child may be considering dying, ask for help.

Parents do the best we know, but do reach out for medical help, psychiatric evaluation, and diagnosis.

More thoughts that may surprise you:

If they’ve attempted suicide before

If they have problems sleeping

Or, if there is marital conflict in the home

If they have a tattoo

Also, if they have been imprisoned (again, a source of pain)

Of course, if they have a mood disorder

And pay attention if they use negative words commonly that are associated with death, dying, evil, darkness, self-hatred, etc. Because this is also a risk factor.

Create a Safety Plan

The effectiveness of the plan you form relies on the involvement of all involved, and your child’s willingness to help and respond.

Ketamine treatment can has been so remarkable in its ability to stop suicidal thoughts in a few hours or less. It can stop them. Erase them.

Risk of adolescent suicide is high. It’s the second leading cause of death in persons age 15-24.

We understand all too well how these symptoms can not only disrupt — but endanger — your life, and we want to help. Seeing you experience relief from your pain, torment, and suffering is why we get up in the morning.

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

Don’t Be Shy – Talk to Someone Suicidal Because You Might Save a Life

This is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Week — Be aware and reach out.

How often have you heard people say, “he had everything to live for,” or “he seemed like such a happy guy” or “she was so much fun.” Everyone’s baffled. And yet, obviously, it wasn’t all what it seemed. But maybe nobody asked.

You have to ask.

But there ARE options. For most people, if you can give them a way to live that’s joyful, productive, and rewarding without the incessant pain they endure, they would opt-out of death and choose a life that’s enjoyable and full of hope.

And it’s for that reason we want to prevent suicide.

Ask the people in your world how they’re doing, and listen to their response. Pay attention and show them that it really matters to you. This is paramount and is the primary way to find out if someone who crosses your path needs your help. Convey that you mean it.

“How you doing, Jack? No…I mean really. How are you doing?”

And little by little, you’ll become known as someone who really cares, and someone a person could actually talk to. Which is why you want to talk to someone suicidal, because your caring could possibly be life saving for them.

Understand that a person who is this depressed, or this desperate, has probably become isolated. And that’s a very lonely place.

Antidepressants

While it’s true that 35-60% of the people who have been diagnosed with depression respond to the first or second trial of oral antidepressants, there are about 35% who don’t respond to anything.