Innovative Psychiatry
Ketamine Off-Label Talk about ketamine off-label and it’s hard not to get a raised eyebrow or two. The one-eyebrow raise is the curious, skeptical, quizzical, or disapproving look when someone hears about IV ketamine infusions for depression, just before she takes a deep breath and then dismisses it. But the two-eyebrow raise is another matter entirely. […]
“I hope I don’t have bipolar disorder.” “It’s not bipolar, right?” “How do I know if it’s his bipolar disorder or if he’s just being a brat?” “Everyone just throws that term around like it’s the menu of the day—bipolar disorder is so overdiagnosed, it’s not funny.” The words are tough to hear. The phrases […]
Julie, who says she has suffered with clinical depression almost her entire life, recently underwent two ketamine injection treatments to treat her condition. She joins The Doctors to share her experience with the controversial new treatment.
Shyness is a natural reticence to interact with people you don’t know. For those who are shy, it can be very painful and interfere with their social development. Introverted ? …or Shy? You may have heard it said that shyness is just introversion. But, this isn’t really true. An introvert may or may not be […]
WHAT DOES GRATITUDE HAVE TO DO WITH HAPPINESS? We’ve been talking about the science of happiness. The things researchers have been learning about what actually make us happy, as well as what doesn’t make us as happy as we think they will. The funny thing about happiness is that it’s sort of counter-intuitive. For instance, if […]
Ketamine, or “Special K” as it is commonly known, is a powerful anaesthetic that leaves the user feeling lifeless and physically detached from their senses. However, medical experts now believe the popular party drug could be the leading treatment for severe depression and suicidal thinking. According to the Washington Post, studies over the past decade […]
There are many faces to depression: sadness, hopelessness, trouble sleeping, lack of motivation, an inability to experience pleasure. That last one has a medical name—anhedonia—and people experiencing it often no longer enjoy activities that used to bring happiness. Anhedonia is not found just in depression; it can be an important part of other disorders, including […]
Key clinical point: Ketamine quickly reduces suicidal ideation even in patients whose depressive symptoms are unresponsive. Major finding: Ketamine infusions significantly reduced suicidal ideation even in patients whose treatment-resistant depression did not respond to the drug. Data source: This ongoing observational study included 27 patients with treatment-resistant depression who received seven intravenous infusions of ketamine […]
Everyone’s depression is different, but Ted, a 40-year-old resident of Portland, Oregon, describes his as a “continuous dark veil — a foul, dark, awful perspective that informs every moment of your whole life.” He’d tried to treat it with antidepressants, therapy, visits to psychiatrists, “the whole nine,” but although the antidepressants kept him functional, they […]
A hallucinogenic drug known on the street as “Special K” offers new hope to those suffering from severe, treatment-resistant depression. Ketamine, which was originally developed in the 1960s as a milder version of PCP, already has a well-established medical use as a sedative or pain killer. But since 2000, small but high-quality studies have demonstrated […]