Lori Calabrese, MD

Tag: IV Ketamine Treatment for Suicidal Thoughts

What Makes Ketamine Work? This Research Team Seeks Answers

We’ve talked about ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects. Last month we talked about the role of dissociation in ketamine’s antidepressant benefits. Neuroscientists are studying ketamine to find out WHY it provides such rapid antidepressant results. They’re hoping they can determine what exactly ketamine does in the brain, and whether they can isolate that action from the side effects without losing its extraordinary effectiveness. It’s a long road (rife with trials!), but they soldier on… hoping to make new medications that could become more available to more people. So let’s follow this team of neuroscientists through their quest over nearly 2 decades so far, to see what makes ketamine work.

Lisa Monteggia, Ph.D.

A team of researchers, led by Lisa Monteggia, Ph.D., have studied this question for 18 years. Beginning in 2003, she and her team were interested in what makes antidepressants work. At the time, they knew that neurons released the neurotransmitter serotonin to keep the mood stable. Therefore, if the serotonin level was “low,” that was the cause of depression. (Or so they thought.)

A lot of antidepressant medicines at that time were designed to increase serotonin availability. (They worked to prevent serotonin from being taken back up by the releasing neuron, and to keep it around in the synapse.)

However, Dr. Monteggia’s team saw a problem with that whole explanation because those antidepressants (SSRIs and SNRIs–serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) took weeks to relieve depressive symptoms — when the meds worked. So they realized other things must be going on at the same time, since serotonin alone wasn’t the key element.

Next, her team identified an important aspect of neuronal signaling, as well as something vital for antidepressant effects… and that was brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

A variation of the gene that “tells” cells to make BDNF contains an error or oddity that can change what the gene and the BDNF do. And that’s significant. Because further studies showed that people who have this “odd” gene, can have a reduced, dampened effect from antidepressants.

Hmmm..!!

Now don’t miss this next part of her story: As her team was studying this weird anomaly, another team (remember research was going on globally!) published their work about the ketamine, an anesthesia agent that can produce rapid antidepressant effects when given at a low dose — too low for it to produce anesthesia.

Ketamine already had a reputation for abuse when taken in moderate to higher doses.

But this finding was so important! That at a low dose, ketamine can effectively sweep away symptoms in someone who has severely treatment resistant depression. Basically, someone who has not been helped by anything else they’ve tried for their depression.

So this really charged up Dr. Monteggia and her research team. They committed to learning all they could about ketamine. And they say they want to use it as a Rosetta Stone, so to speak. In other words, they want to use low dose ketamine as the key to understanding rapid acting antidepressant action. Why? Because maybe understanding the mechanisms of action of ketamine could fuel the development of new antidepressants without side effects… Ah!

For one thing, it may hopefully show us how effective antidepressants work. (Actually work, not how we assume or think they work.) To learn the actual mechanism behind effectiveness; as in, something we haven’t yet seen or identified.

The other is that ketamine is known to impact a specific protein in the brain…the NMDA receptor. This receptor is found embedded on certain neurons — a lot of neurons!!

The team confirmed that ketamine blocks the NMDA receptor. In addition, ketamine has specific effects on a certain signaling pathway, and when they blocked that pathway, ketamine didn’t work.

Ok…the process of elimination.

But let’s see what else they learned.

Here’s one exciting thing … and we count on it with ketamine treatment. They were able to show that when ketamine blocks the NMDA receptor which affects signaling…it produces a series of downstream effects which trigger a special form of neuroplasticity in the brain cells.

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the connections (or synapses) between the brain cells to change their strength. So ketamine helps those synapses change their strength in new and unexpected ways.

The team has tested other medications to see if they act like ketamine. (For instance, memantine is similar to ketamine in some ways, and it does block the NMDA receptor, but it goes about it in a different way. So interesting, though: despite all that, it does not have the same effect on signaling as ketamine, nor does it trigger this novel type of plasticity that ketamine does.)

They only see this specific type of plasticity with rapid antidepressant action. Eureka!!

(OK, so we’re a little excited here. I know.)

So it occurred to them that perhaps this special form of plasticity may actually be an integral part of rapid antidepressant action.…? And they wonder whether this type of neuroplasticity plays a role in “healing” depression, and demonstrates what makes antidepressants work … Not sure yet.

But here’s something to keep in mind: some experts in the field of neuroscience call ketamine a “dirty” drug.

Don’t panic!

When they say that, they don’t mean it’s grimy. They mean that it works in many ways to affect many parts of the brain — it doesn’t do just one thing that explains definitively how it relieves depression. If they could develop a drug that targeted the absolute biologic mechanisms that are specifically involved in depression, bipolar depression, PTSD, suicidal thoughts, and the rest, that would be a breakthrough!

So ketamine emerged as a treatment for psychiatric disorders — quite by surprise.

This team of researchers believe that ketamine’s actions are especially important in the hippocampus. They believe that after ketamine affects brain cells in the hippocampus, changes flow back to the prefrontal cortex (this part of the brain is behind your forehead) and other areas.

So they’re hoping they can follow the path of those changes backward…from hippocampus to prefrontal cortex to other area. The more they learn, the closer they may come to understand rapid acting antidepressants better.

They believe that blocking NMDA receptors results in that novel neuroplasticity and call it “homeostatic” neuroplasticity. This is a different form of plasticity than the one involved in learning.

And as they continue forward with these experiments, studying homeostatic plasticity, which they believe is at the core of what makes ketamine work as an antidepressant, then they can work with other, perhaps newer, medications that do the same thing…to find more and better options.

Meanwhile, we do have IV ketamine treatment. And people often experience remission with it. So we’ll keep using it, and celebrating your joy, freedom…and hope.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we happily work with you in hopes you’ll achieve remission with IV ketamine treatment. We’ll joyfully welcome you for your treatment, and you’ll receive that treatment in a safe environment with clean, pure air. Sanitized to 99.99%. We take every precaution, like our intense plasma cell technology, to keep our environment here safe for you.

Innovative. Super modern. Seeking the best.

For you.

IV ketamine treatment is just like that in our hands: innovative, supermodern, seeking your best self. Is it for everyone? Does it make everyone better? Sadly no. Which is why we’re so grateful that there are teams of researchers…around the world…who won’t give up, who seek more options and even better ones, for all of us.

If you struggle with the kinds of disorders we’ve talked about, and treatments haven’t helped, call us.

We’ll set an appointment to help you know whether you might be a likely candidate for this extraordinary treatment. Your rewarding and fulfilling life lies ahead.

We look forward to meeting you.

To the restoration of your best self,

May 10, 2021
Is Dissociation Important for Ketamine to Work?

The Big Question

Is dissociation needed? Is it necessary? Can you get better without it, or with “just a little bit” of dissociation? Does the kind of dissociative experience you have during a ketamine infusion predict whether ketamine is going to work? Or how much it will help? …. or If it will help faster? If it will work better….? Will it be scary? Will it be negative? Can it set you back….or make you worse? Can you do anything to shape it (yep, the dissociative experience) to get the most out of it? Boy, what IS dissociation anyway? And is dissociation important for ketamine to work?

I’m tellin’ ya, that is the question of the hour. Every hour. (Or every 90 minutes, I should say. Because that’s the time we set aside for you, when you receive a ketamine infusion. )

When you come in for ketamine, we dive deep. We look for what you used to be like at your best self—really like. Or… if it feels like you never had a best self, we go back further still. And then we look at all of the factors that have contributed to where you are today: what happened, how it happened, what the interplay is genetics, experiences, people in your life, work and the things you love, symptoms and how they’ve spiraled out of control, treaters and treatments that didn’t work out for you.

We want to understand your narrative. Because if you are a candidate for treatment with IV ketamine, we want to offer you the hope and the possibility to change that narrative….and write a new one moving forward.

So the question is what does that? What moves you forward? Ketamine itself? the racemic molecules, the NMDAR antagonism and disinhibition? glutamate activation? the multiple downstream effects involving AMPA activation, and g-protein fast action sliding off lipid rafts? The production of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), and the growth of new branches on neuronal trees that leads to synaptic plasticity and flexibility of thought?

There is a lot of action that ketamine creates (and a lot that we are still exploring because we don’t have all the answers yet about exactly how it works). And it is all very wonderful and scientific. We love the molecular, we love the granular….we love translational neuroscience. But more than that, we love the transformation that we see when science blooms deep in the mind.

And that’s what happens in dissociation.

Science blooms in the mind.

Let me tell you what that means.

Dissociation has been described with all kinds of terms, including feeling dreamy, floaty, spaced out …. Detached from yourself or not a part of yourself, feeling detached from your surroundings. Having changes in your sense of self and where you are–feeling like you’re not yourself but a collection of thoughts or a mind/heart somewhere in the universe.

You’ll hear people describe it as feeling weird, loopy, or really trippy, with visual experiences, or feeling that time expands or contracts. Feeling an ineffable sense of awe. Or sometimes feeling like something dark is trying to intrude.

Early reports with IV ketamine for depression suggested that dissociation was associated with a good response to ketamine. Not that it was to be avoided, but that it was actually OK. More than OK, it was part of the treatment and part of what might be helping lift depression.

More recent clinical research, and the experience of countless ketamine clinicians and thousands of patients suggests not only that is it welcomed, but that the dissociative experience during your treatment could be necessary, maybe even IMPORTANT for you to experience, to remember, to analyze and to integrate into your life’s experience as your move forward…and AWAY from your depression, your anxiety, your trauma.

We think dissociation is incredibly important, and that the way that you recall your experiences during dissociation, interpret them, and look for meaning will help you grow, develop flexibility of thought, open you up to new possibilities and reawaken old loves (like the love of music, or sports, or the outdoors) or invite you to seek out new ones. The biological changes that lay the structure, and the ineffable and sometimes spiritual or mystical experiences that can occur during dissociation can be absolutely transformative. Stunningly effective. In a way nothing else we have is.

Is it important?

You betcha.

Can we prove it?

Ah. That’s another story.

Prominent Ketamine Researchers Seek Answers

Recently, two veteran neuroscience researchers in this exciting “ketamine for depression” saga, Elizabeth D. Ballard, Ph.D. and Carlos A. Zarate, M.D., published a groundbreaking paper in Nature Communications. They addressed the question about whether dissociation is important for ketamine’s antidepressant effects.

To do that, they scoured over 76 papers — peer-reviewed published reports and clinical trials of IV ketamine used in the treatment of depression, reviews, psychedelic research.

There are physicians who offer 6 ketamine infusions at a “standard dose” of 0.5 mg/kg over 40 minutes. This was the early protocol used in early research trials. And there are certainly many who haven’t veered from it.

There are others who have taken a more flexible path to help more people achieve remission. We’ve hinted about how we titrate the dose, the rate, and the number of infusions, in an effort to evoke a better response. Getting better is what matters. Living better is what sings.

Still, there has been some controversy about the role dissociation plays in ketamine achieving that response, especially remission from severe depression. So, we applaud Elizabeth Ballard, PhD and Carlos Zarate, MD for their diligence in trying to find answers to the questions.

Let’s talk about their paper, and address the current position ketamine holds among treatments for depression and other disorders, and how far it’s come.

This beautifully written manuscript highlights the immediate antidepressant effects ketamine treatment produces, along with the short-term dissociative effects that often occur during the infusion itself.

So… is dissociation important for ketamine’s antidepressant benefits? Let’s see…

They say the primary purpose for their publication is to scrutinize other studies and to learn — through a close examination of other research — and figure out the answer to this question. Is the side effect of dissociation necessarily a requirement of the antidepressant impact that is so restorative to so many… you could even say most…patients?

Oral antidepressants have a slow onset of relief, taking at least weeks, and often months, to bring relief. In fact, after all that waiting, sometimes those medicines don’t improve symptoms much at all. (If you’re reading, you probably know this firsthand.)

Ketamine, in contrast, can create rapid improvements in many symptoms within hours or a day. Ketamine treatment is not for everyone (for a variety of reasons). But for those who are good candidates, ketamine usually provides more relief and more remission than any other medicine we use.

Extraordinary Restoration in Treatment Resistant Conditions

Ketamine shows its greatest effectiveness and rapid responses in treatment resistant depression, bipolar depression, PTSD, OCD, social anxiety disorder, substance dependence, and suicidal thoughts.

As we’ve also talked about before, in a separate action, ketamine has become known for rapid eradication of suicidal thoughts. We’ve reported our own real world results about how ketamine can stop suicidal thoughts in an afternoon in the office, preventing visits to the emergency department and hospitalizations.

Chemists originally developed ketamine as an anesthetic to replace phenylcyclidine (known as PCP) in the ’60’s because PCP caused delirium, agitation, hallucinations…and violence. So it was taken off the market. Those chemists set out to develop ketamine in the same laboratory to initiate anesthesia. Ketamine didn’t illicit violent behaviors, thankfully. But dissociation and out-of-body experiences accompanied it and it was labeled a dissociative anesthesia.

Then, in the early part of the 21st century, studies began to explore what ketamine might do for people with treatment resistant depressive disorders using small doses…and the results were eye opening.

As far as the connection between dissociation and an effective antidepressant response to ketamine:

A study in 2014 found that the other side effects of ketamine, such as systolic blood pressure changes, diastolic blood pressure changes, pulse changes, or manic symptoms, weren’t associated with improvement in depressive symptoms…not at 230 minutes, or at 7 days after the infusion.

On the other hand, dissociative symptoms were associated with antidepressant improvement at 230 minutes, and at 7 days after the infusion.

Another finding of note was that some subjects with treatment resistant depression respond enthusiastically to their rapid improvement. But, when healthy subjects received the infusions, some of them experienced a transient period of dysphoria, feeling uncomfortable and ill at ease, after a ketamine infusion.

Beyond various side effects — including dissociation — that others have experienced, there’s more to consider. Let’s talk about the importance of a patient having the ability to access a “non-ordinary state” of mind to fully benefit from the work that ketamine does.

This “non-ordinary state of consciousness” can usher in neuroplasticity in the brain. Where the synaptic connections are growing, proliferating, changing… and this state of change can open your mind to think new thoughts, and to think differently about things that happen.

Like how you feel about a trauma, or a stressor, and to change your response to that experience.

The experiences, the meaning, the imagery often open up new and deeper ways of thinking about the experiences in your life in new ways, and give you an opportunity to perhaps forge a new path.

How exhilarating that can be!

So now, ketamine treatment…a series of infusions over a few weeks….is building a reputation for effectiveness with treatment resistant depression, bipolar depression, social anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and substance dependence. And by a separate action, ketamine has shown it can eradicate suicidal thoughts rapidly.

Because ketamine’s effects have been so remarkably effective in those it helps, it’s inspiring the development of new medicines in hopes of discovering more wonderful treatments for people who suffer.

So what is dissociation, really?

According to one expert, dissociation is defined as a discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior. These veteran researchers acknowledge that it would be beneficial if ketamine could be as effective without the side effects of such things as dissociation. But it is not yet clear whether the dissociation is a core feature of the antidepressant response. Or, it could be just a side effect. Ballard and Zarate point out that the evidence is just not conclusive or clear.

Yes…but what’s important about dissociation??

Well, that depends on who you are…and where you’re coming from. The early researchers showed it was important because it was associated with a better response to ketamine treatment. Ballard and Zarate, in the paper we talked about above, question that because their analysis of the literature to date suggests the findings are inconsistent. They conclude that “the relationship between dissociation and ketamine remains an open question.” Part of the question may be that the rating scale used in most of the the studies to “measure dissociation,” the CADSS, might not be the right one. It was designed to measure dissociation just before and after the recall of traumatic memories in patients with PTSD. But it might not really be the best scale to capture the rapid dissociative experience that happens during a ketamine infusion and the range of experiences —like perceptual changes, peacefulness, bliss. (There are other scales out there that might capture these better.)

So…if you’re a researcher, “important” means predictive of, or statistically associated with, or prognostic for. Then “is dissociation important?” means “is it necessary for response or remission?”

Stick with us here.

However, if you’re a pharmaceutical company, you might see dissociation as just a weird and hard to quantify experience. Troublesome. You list it as an adverse effect. (Because it’s not the primary goal of treatment–remission is.) It could get in the way of your FDA approval, and of allowing your newly developed drug to be approved for at-home use. It can affect your sales. It might get in the way, it might push you to test and produce low doses and leave it at that.

BUT…if you’re the one sitting in the chair, what you want to know is this: Is what I experience during an infusion important for ME? How can I make sense of it? For me? How can I use the experience… to help me? Can dissociation—and the whole experience—actually help me?

What ketamine infusions can do for you is what is important to you. The whole experience — from start to finish, from the beautiful serene setting to your mindset and your intentions (and your hopes and your fears) as the infusion begins — can and should be integrated so that you can move forward and into a better, richer, life.

Infusion. Infused with hope.

There really is hope.

At Innovative Psychiatry, ketamine treatment continues to be the best treatment we offer for rapid relief and remission of depression and suicidal thoughts, and for rapid relief in so many of the conditions we’ve discussed. We look forward to following the research — and working with our own patients, who are often our finest teachers — and to learning from all of it as the field moves forward.

We’re also set and ready to provide ketamine treatment for you in our safe offices. We’ve installed a system that destroys bacteria and viruses, including coronavirus, from the air and lifts them from hard and soft surfaces so you can get treatment, even in the midst of a pandemic, without hesitation or fear.

We titrate your dose and adjust your infusion rate to make your treatment comfortable, productive, and effective. We want you to get better. We want you to find your joy again…to embrace bliss.

If you’ve found that your medicine for your disorder isn’t helping, call us.

We’ll talk about your history, your symptoms, your needs… and determine if ketamine treatment is a good fit for you.

Although we can’t guarantee your outcome (no one can), we’ll offer you our best judgment, and all of our clinical expertise. This treatment is very effective for the majority of our patients, and it could be transformative for you.

Call us and let’s work together to see what ketamine treatment can do for you.

To the restoration of your best self,

April 19, 2021
Keep Your Eyes on AKT: It Might Explain How We Learn and Forget Fear

You may hear people say, “Antidepressants and other psych meds just don’t do anything…”

Some people say, “…placebos work better…” Oh please. But why do they say that? Maybe their own experience with prescribed medicines was disappointing. So — of course — they’re disillusioned about these medicines. We get it. And we know that any given medicine that works for some people won’t help some others at all, or might even make them worse. Sooo… what’s up with that? Well, the answer isn’t simple. We do know that antidepressants,when first prescribed, only help about 30% of depressed people. We know that psych drugs help some people but not others and that men and women can experience depression and anxiety and fear differently. It’s a tangle to unravel it all. That’s why we’re so excited about new developments. We want to keep your eyes on AKT because it might explain how we learn and forget fear.

Meet Jill and Greg to see how differences affect their well being and livelihood:

Jill and Greg own a coffee shop together and are partners in life as well. They have a great balance of power, in the tasks they divide between them and the strengths they each bring. Greg is a people person, creative, funny, and efficient at both designing new drinks and training staff to make them just right. Jill is a numbers person, and sometimes comes off a little stiff and awkward, because she just doesn’t have Greg’s gift for setting people at ease. She also has some social anxiety going on.

She does ordering from suppliers, closes out the books every night, and keeps a close eye on profit and loss. They’re a perfectly matched pair and love working together. That is, as long as they’re both at their best. With Greg building relationships with customers and vendors, and Jill keeping the financial end sound, they really do provide strength for the weakness of the other.

Unfortunately, they both suffer from disorders that periodically causes some lost time at the shop. When that happens, the one who is doing OK ends up carrying a double load. And both of them struggle with anxiety… or basically fear on some level.

Greg was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder when he was a teenager. Jill was diagnosed with depression in college. She’s a worrier. He just explodes sometimes—and refuses to call it anxiety. Greg takes medication for mood stability that also has an antidepressant effect. Jill takes an antidepressant that only sort of works. They probably both need medicines that reduce anxiety.

In a perfect world…

Since their coffee shop venture requires all hands on deck to run smoothly, Jill and Greg are eager to find the right meds for both of them to help stay in the game. They need to be able to go in to work—they can’t afford not to. It seems to Greg that since his medication helps him as much as it does, Jill should ask her doctor to prescribe the same for her. She’s a nervous wreck! However, she knows enough about changing meds that she can’t just jump on another medication just because it works for Greg. She’s tried that before. It didn’t work.

At this point, Jill has tried five different antidepressants over the past few years, and has researched enough about IV ketamine treatment that she wants to talk to her doctor about whether she’s a candidate for it.

Considering something new takes a little bit of courage. She wasn’t sure what her psychiatrist would say. A visit with her psychiatrist surprised her–he was cautious but supported her trying something that might help. Jill decided to pay for it out of savings, because her bouts of severe depression were taking a toll on the shop and their income.

She arranged for treatment and began infusions. When the treatment was complete, she had received 8 infusions over about 3 weeks, and she felt like she had a new lease on life. Her ketamine infusions seemed to wake up her brain. And that got better and better day by day — even after she completed treatment. She found she enjoyed singing and dancing, and painting became her new passion. When they had a problem in the shop, she had so many more ideas for solving it. Working on the book work was no longer a drudgery–she enjoyed it and got more accomplished in a shorter time.

Jill and Greg’s life became so much better at work and at play. Greg still had slumps when his meds weren’t quite holding him, but their life was so much better overall. They had read that ketamine treatment could help bipolar depression, too. Maybe the next time he went through a bad bout of that, Greg would talk to his doctor about it. To see if it was right for him—not just to copy Jill.

Finding the right medicine for you is sometimes a long search. And medicine that works for you may not work for your sister…or your son. But it’s well worth the work researchers do to better understand why.

A research study at the University of Colorado Boulder offers one fascinating revelation about why those differences between people and genders might exist.

It has to do with a key protein kinase in the brain called AKT…which functions differently between males and females.

They found presence of a certain form of AKT (called an isoform) in male mice can help the male let go of fear from a past painful experience–and form a new adaptive response to get around the old fear. Wait, what? Doesn’t that remind you of the way synaptic plasticity helps you adapt?

Ok, you’re right…mice aren’t people and it doesn’t work quite that way…. but AKT is remarkably similar across mice and humans and this kind of translational research can begin to give us specific information to make our medicines and medical care more specific. Potentially even gender specific.

So you’ll do well to keep your eye on AKT because so much is being learned about how we learn and how we forget fear.

By figuring out the very complicated cascades involved in creating synaptic plasticity, we may be on the verge of figuring out how to shape and foster the neuroplasticity–for the better.

We may be able to personalize medication therapies so that they don’t just broadly address a disease state, but so that they can be specific for the man or woman who needs them.

Charles Hoeffer, the principal investigator of this study, said it like this: “We need to stop hitting every ‘disorder’ with the same hammer.” Well said! (Wish I had said that!)

We’re always talking about personalizing treatment. About how important it is to provide treatment that fits the individual. Just as that’s true with all of the fine details involved in ketamine treatment, it’s also true with all of the medicines we prescribe.

So… about AKT.

It turns out AKT plays a lead role in synaptic plasticity. We’ve talked about that too… The idea that the connections between cells in the brain can change and adapt. They can change and adapt as a result of an experience. (This is why trauma can change us.) But — so importantly — these connections can also grow, change, and adapt as a result of the deeply emotional experiences, like the incredibly deep and awe-filled experiences you can have during a ketamine infusion. So many of our patients do. We’ve talked about how taking advantage of that process by scheduling psychotherapy 24 hours after a ketamine infusion can enhance the effectiveness of the infusion.

Why? Because therapy helps you think differently about something…and synaptic plasticity empowers those changes in thought. Many of our patients also find that journalling, creative writing, meditation and other activities help to integrate those experiences into their lives, find meaning in the experience, and move forward. Keep your eyes on AKT… there’s so much more to learn.

AKT helps you create memories. Like a child touching his hand to a hot stove. To encode that memory so that he will be cautious in the future around hot burners, his brain needs to activate protein kinases like AKT.

In fact, AKT is one of the first proteins to present itself to form a memory like that.

There are 3 main variants, or isoforms, of AKT and they do different things and affect people in different ways (More on that in a sec!)

AKT1 is important in encoding new experiences and allowing you to forget the old.

AKT2 is often found in the astroglia…which are star-shaped brain cells.

AKT3 seems to be important in brain growth and development. This one plays a positive role in mental health and wellbeing.

And when AKT1 and AKT2 are working together in the prefrontal cortex, they’re vital for learning, for memory … for dynamic change.

Maybe like the kind of dynamic change that you want for yourself. So yes. So many different forms, working singly and sometimes together, in ways we are only now just beginning to understand for people suffering with psychiatric disorders.

Now. To add another twist to this picture. In this study, researchers found a dramatic difference between genders regarding AKT.

They found that male laboratory animals whose AKT1 was functioning well, had far more ability to replace unwanted memories with new ones…than those who were missing AKT1.

Draw that out for a moment now…. and imagine men who’ve experienced the trauma of illness, or assault, or combat… and imagine for a moment that they’re given the opportunity to experience something new — maybe hopeful, blissful, awe-filled, like they might during a ketamine infusion — and then the excitement of realizing that a tiny little protein kinase like AKT1 may play a part in helping to encode that new feeling. Turn it into a new memory. Make the old traumas fade. (That’s called extinction learning.) Teeny little AKT1 helps with this. In males.

Incredible.

There are endless little nuances in your brain that translate your experiences, encode them, and shape your synapses…and your individual functioning. And maybe your future possibilities.

AKT is one to keep your eyes on for sure.

We keep learning, keep researching, and keep doing all we can to help you get better.

(Let’s just say we read all this stuff for fun–at nights, on the weekends, and at 5 am with a double shot of espresso.)

And at this point, serial titrated IV ketamine infusions still do the best job we’ve seen in bringing relief to more people with treatment-resistant depression and anxiety than just about anything else available today.

But ketamine treatment doesn’t work for absolutely everyone. Is it because of AKT or something different? We don’t know. Not yet. Researchers like the ones at Boulder are still searching to understand the nuances of dendritic growth and synaptic plasticity in order to refine our treatments–and discover better ones.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we personalize treatment to fit you — all the complexity and all the wonderfulness of you! And we aim for remission. Not just response. That’s the reason we titrate your dose, duration of the infusion, and the number of infusions you need to help you discover — once again — your best self.

When you struggle and suffer from the symptoms of disorders that can be tormenting and exhausting, getting treatment is paramount. And feeling safe is critical — so we have state-of-the-art technology that crushes 99.999% of all viruses and pathogens. During this pandemic we want to make things easy. We all need a little bit of easy.

So now, reach out for IV ketamine treatment in a safe atmosphere where this treatment can help you live better, hope more, and enjoy the challenges and relationships in your life that give your life meaning.

You can live a life of joy, fulfillment, accomplishment, and ongoing hope.

If your meds have not been providing you relief from symptoms of depression, despair, PTSD, or suicidal thoughts…call us.

Let’s talk about what you’ve tried that didn’t work. And if you’re a candidate for IV ketamine treatment, we can begin that.

Even though ketamine treatment isn’t for everyone, it just might be a good fit for you.

We’re here to help.

To the restoration of your best self,

March 8, 2021
Don’t Let Stressors You Can’t Control Hurt YOU: Add Resilience

Turns Out Winter 2021 Hasn’t Run Out of Stressors to Throw at You Yet…

People like you have been finding ways to adapt and endure this historical and very strange year. Never think that major factors in society, and in science, and in government, have no effect on you and your personal life. In fact, the ongoing onslaught of external pressures can take a serious toll. In fact, the toll can be so subtle you don’t realize it’s happening. If you find yourself sinking into what feels like quick sand, stop and take action. You don’t have to go down for the count. Stressors you can’t control don’t have to control you or even hurt you. But without intervention, you may find it all gets to be too much.

Take Janeen and Carole, for example:

Janeen and Carole were neighbors and had been friends for years. They enjoyed shopping together, stopping for coffee and pastries, or splurging on Italian food at their favorite white cloth restaurant. They were both upbeat single empty nesters and reveled in their freedom once their grown children built lives of their own.

Carole was the more practical of the two, and Janeen was the more spontaneous, but oh, they had such fun together.

As the pandemic emerged, and as surprising as it was, they didn’t expect it to have that much of an impact on their lives because they were both already so content doing things at home — together or individually. And they did, whether it was a craft project, or constructing a puzzle, or playing cards.

However, with the spread of the pandemic, they each knew more and more people who became ill from it. Of course, Janeen and Carole were diligent with all the precautions including masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and social distancing. Still, they knew someone who was critically ill with the coronavirus, and while she survived, it was pretty scary.

Then Janeen learned that a life long friend of her family had died in the hospital from COVID.

Three weeks later, the brother of her co-worker also died. Both losses hit her hard. Then a cousin also died. Of course, they were reading about someone well-known who also died every day or two. The losses of dear people in this pandemic were unexpected and heartbreaking.

You know that feeling when something so alarming happens that you hear about it in the news…but you never think it will happen to anyone you know..? Exactly. The alarming aspects of this disaster were getting too close to home for these friends. And in spite of the upbeat friendship Janeen and Carole shared, they discovered stressors you can’t control weren’t as easy to push aside when they plunder your personal life and those you hold dear.

That Last Straw that Can Break a Camel’s Back…

Finally, Carole’s sister Greta called and the tone of the conversation turned sour, then bitter…until her sister attacked her utterly unexpectedly. She attacked her political beliefs, her faith, and her family. By the time Carole ended the call, she was shocked and deeply wounded. Devastated. She felt betrayed at the deepest level. Carole trusted her sister. She respected her opinions and felt support from her so fundamentally, that she had always been confident they would never treat each other with disrespect.

Carole told herself her sister was just having a bad day. Or maybe the stressors of everything happening were wearing down Greta, too..? At any rate, Carole felt silly that she was so hurt by the things her sister said. She’d never been one to be so touchy with her family, to have her feelings on her cuff.

But… for Carole, it was as if the clouds had covered the sun. The shades on her life had been drawn. And the light that had normally shone on her days disappeared. Carole didn’t understand what was happening to her. But the color in life had turned shades of gray.

There was no reason to take her sister’s verbal assault so personally. But still, her outlook deteriorated. She couldn’t seem to help it.

She read on the internet that depression seemed to be on the rise with COVID…and she wondered if that was happening to her for some inexplicable reason. It was as if she had lost her zest for life. As the days and weeks passed, she realized she didn’t really care what her sister did…or what Janeen did. She felt so deflated she didn’t want to get out of bed.

So she didn’t.

Carole’s highly energized and determined personality went limp. Sad. Empty.

As days, weeks, and months passed, Carole knew she had become withdrawn. But she didn’t care. Nothing seemed to matter.

Eventually, she realized she didn’t see any reason to keep living. Her children were living their own lives now, and she was no longer needed. She thought sometimes about how the end of life would come for her. Would she just not wake up one day?

Or develop a catastrophic disease? Then she realized she didn’t really have to wait…

So she wondered how hard it would be to just put a STOP to her life. To be released from the phenomenal stress she’d lived with.

The more those thoughts built in her mind, the more reasonable they sounded to her.

Janeen checked on her regularly, but Carole tried to end those contacts quickly. She just didn’t want to talk, visit, or exert any energy at all. She wished she could just sort of fade away.

Above all, though, she knew she didn’t want to do anything that caused her family pain… Still, she continued to think about it…

Another Perspective on Stress

We talk about stress. How it can defeat otherwise unsinkable people. How it can reduce immunity and how it can contribute to disorders like depression, panic disorder, PTSD, alcohol use disorder, bipolar depression, social anxiety disorder, and suicidal thoughts. Stressors you can’t control are so much more difficult than those you can. And the helplessness that accompanies them does its own damage.

When we look back in history to extremely stressful situations, we see how severe stressors can lead to suicide in masses of people. For instance, the stock market crash of 1929 for example, illustrates how extreme stress contributed to psychiatric crises for countless people.

This winter — 2021 — has been a “perfect storm” of circumstances with the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, flu season, the COVID variants, remote learning at home for kids, remote working from home, (where stressed parents try to do their job while supervising their children in the same space) and now a historical series of severe arctic storms sweeping from coast to coast, with snow, sleet, and ice causing life threatening traffic pileups, a break down in transportation of goods and services, preventing communities from having what they need… plus a presidential election and an impeachment.

This is proving to be the most stressful, crisis-ridden winter this nation has seen in a very long time. And everyone is facing stressors they can’t control.

And all this stress is dangerous.

Some people have taken every precaution to try to maintain health and safety, and to help contain the fallout of each of these crises. Others have all but thumbed their noses at the need for precaution, and so many others have fallen somewhere in between.

Most people are relatively resilient, and will weather whatever is thrown across their path. But if major stressors are tossed at them day after day, week after week, month after month…eventually they’ll need some sort of relief…a break to recover.

In this particular winter of 2020/2021, we may find ourselves isolated or quarantined. But we still need that break. We need to reach out for relief.

By building a network of people we look forward to talking and laughing with online. Or writing for self-fulfillment and to draw interaction from others, or cooking meals and delivering them to neighbors nearby.

We all need to give. We all need to receive. And we all need feedback. When we give, receive, and participate in feedback…well, those are stressors we can control…so they help.

When the things we need as humans are accessible and balanced in our lives, it’s easier to maintain a certain equilibrium.

But our human needs aren’t always easy to fulfill, and as stressors pile high upon us, we may need more to help us survive.

We may need a treatment to help restore equilibrium. These are highly stressful times for many, many people for a multitude of reasons. While we need to lean into our support system and find it’s not in place, we may need extra support.

Something that IV ketamine treatment excels at is resilience. And resilience chases away the clouds of disillusionment and despair. It helps you bounce back after disappointment and devastation. You may have an abundance of resilience already. But if you don’t, ketamine treatment can sure restore it and arm you for what you face when you’re confronted with stressors you can’t control.

At Innovative Psychiatry, resilience is a remarkable and startling bloom we often see in our ketamine patients. After years of living in a slump, stripped of courage, patience, hope, purpose…to see the same person develop a bright and open countenance, to hear the laughter in his voice, the hope, the confidence…the warmth; to see a life changed so splendidly makes what we do so rewarding.

While ketamine is not effective for everyone — we so wish it was! — its extraordinary impact is life-transforming for many. Neuroscience researchers continue to probe to find reasons for those it doesn’t help.

We also have protocols to ensure your safety when you come to our office for treatment. With Novaerus units in each room that remove the coronavirus from the air you breathe, and surfaces treated by Steramist, which removes 99.999% of all the virus, bacteria, and dangerous pathogens from ALL surfaces, we are diligent about keeping our air clean. We all wear masks, and keep the door locked. We’ve made so many changes… and reinvent down to the smallest details.

You can feel secure knowing that, so you can seek treatment for your depression, PTSD, social anxiety, and suicidal thinking symptoms without fear of COVID infection.

When it seems that the things in life you could always trust seem to fall around you, and the dread of it wears down your ability to try anymore, you might want to call us.

You might want to discuss your options for getting your resilience back.

And if you do, we’ll do our best to help you navigate your way through the barrage.

To find the best you to face the circumstances around you and the stressors you can’t control.

We look forward to talking with you.

To the restoration of your best self,

February 15, 2021
Strong Support System Can Protect You From COVID-Related Depression

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here’s our hope for you that you’ll find ways to make 2021 a more fulfilling and rewarding year for you and your family.

Let’s talk about the difference in between isolation, solace, and quarantine. People need people, and the pandemic has created an atmosphere where it’s hard to tell if you’re just enjoying solace, or if your isolating yourself and pulling back from socializing in a way that builds the habit of avoiding social interaction. And there there is quarantine, where you isolate yourself to avoid spread of COVID-19 after being exposed to it. But a strong support system can protect you from depression symptoms caused by isolation.

In the hustle bustle world of daily activity in a non-pandemic world, it can be difficult to find peace and quiet for an hour. That works fine for some people, who soak up quiet and refuel in a quiet atmosphere of solace.

You know who you are. Lovely quiet periods help you refuel, and give you energy to get back out there.

There are also people who draw their energy from being with people, listening to and absorbing their energy. If you’re one of those, it can be really difficult to be stuck at home in silence all the time. Without outside stimulation, your battery can run down dead and flat. Both in your personality and your emotions.

This is true even when there is no pandemic to deal with.

However, in a pandemic it can get more complicated and put more people at risk for depression.

We want to get a handle on what can make life better while we see the pandemic through to its resolution. Right? We do!!

Quarantine can cause isolation if it goes on too long, can’t it?

When a family of 5 is exposed to the COVID-19 virus, and all test positive, they need to quarantine until they’ve been symptom free, according to CDC guidelines. But what can be done to help prevent the isolation that can lead to depression…? Interaction is a big and important step.

Online friendships are lifesavers during this time of isolation and quarantine. Family and friends in your support system can help protect you when discouragement threatens to cause depression.

Here are two stories…about two different friends and how their outcomes compared in isolation vs. quarantine with online support.

First meet Tamara. She’s 19 and was attending community college for her first semester when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged.

About 2 months into the semester, her school was closed and all classes were switched to remote online learning from home. Tamara was relieved at this because it’s natural for her to enjoy solitude, and looked forward to the peace and quiet and the chance to read voraciously without interruption.

But there were some unexpected obstacles for Tamara. For one thing, as much as she loved to read, she struggled with algebra and chemistry. Quite honestly, in those subjects she’d always tried to get involved with study groups to help her grasp what she couldn’t seem to wrap her head around on her own.

While study groups were available online, she didn’t benefit as much. However, she tried, and kept reaching out to various people in the group for help to understand the mysteries of those classes.

So… she put in her time, worked on her assignments, and spent most of her free time reading books she enjoyed.

For the first 3 months, her freedom to enjoy the quiet and read one book after another was an indescribable luxury.

However, because her mom had passed away a few years before this, she didn’t have her to talk to anymore. And talking to her dad didn’t go that smoothly. So she didn’t really have a true support group. Her only sibling was a brother who was in the Air Force, and his life was full. She rarely heard from him.

Long story short, Tamara was alone. Quite alone.

And the natural social interactions that had happened on campus before the pandemic weren’t available anymore.

By the fourth month of the pandemic, she noticed she was losing her desire to have contact with anyone. Online or in person. She wore her mask and used hand sanitizer when she went to the pharmacy or grocery store… But avoided eye contact.

As Tamara moved into the summer months, she found she had far less energy she had before. She didn’t want to leave her apartment. It became harder and harder to go to the mailbox. And she wasn’t really keeping up with friends anymore on facebook, text, or email.

Then someone stopped by and realized Tamara didn’t appear to be cleaning up her place — or even showering. She seemed shut down.

Tamara was embarrassed, but honestly didn’t have the energy to do more than she was doing. She was managing to keep her grades up in most of her classes, though Chemistry seemed a lost cause.

Finally, her dad came by to see her. He wore a mask and so did she, and they sat across the living room and tried to talk. Seeing her like this alarmed him. Dishes piled high in the sink, her own hygiene seemed to have lapsed…this wasn’t the Tamara he knew.

And he realized she was missing the support system that can protect against the threats of isolation and depression.

So he asked her to let him help by getting her a telepsychiatry appointment. That was actually a good solution, so she wouldn’t have to see anyone face to face…

Now, meet Carolina. Carolina is 20, and knew Tamara in high school. They’d ended up at the same community college, but had not run into each other before classes closed for COVID-19.

Even though Carolina also enjoys solace, she has a nice group of friends to study with, and talk on her phone and text with. So even though she, too, has been home with remote online learning since a couple months after the semester started, she also has friends she talks to.

She doesn’t see them face to face, but they talk on FaceTime and Skype, as well as Marco Polo just so they can have live interaction. Carolina also lives at home with her family. Her parents are both working remotely from home, and her sister and three brothers are all learning remotely online.

So, in spite of not seeing much of friends or relatives face to face, they meet up on Zoom, have a party, talk about their friends and their classes, music and the food they have delivered to their houses. What’s tasty and what isn’t.

If one of them is exposed to COVID-19 and then tests positive, they all gather online to encourage and offer suggestions for managing it.

The truth of it is that Carolina and her friends really haven’t struggled that much with feelings of depression. Maybe because they keep each other so engaged in daily living. Somebody in the group always has a story to tell. All in all they offer each other a strong support system can protect against the damage that comes from too much isolation.

Maybe it’s because their long term friendships have kept them all feeling more supported, resilient, and less vulnerable.

It’s true that too much isolation can lead to depression symptoms in some people. And as we move into 2021, it’s a good idea to embrace the new year with a willingness to reach out to those who seem to lack support.

A really good idea.

Everyone around you needs a support system right now. Some have it, others don’t really. But you can help with that online.

And there are also those who have been suffering under the weight of depression for a long time, and nothing has helped. Those who are sick and tired of feeling so hopeless, despondent, alienated, and drained.

IV Ketamine Treatment Opens Doors of Hope

For those, there is further hope in IV ketamine treatment. A series of 6 or maybe 8 infusions spread over a few short weeks, and expertly titrated to ensure you get the dose that’s right for you. Ketamine has blown the doors off depression treatment in the last ten years and especially the last 5. It’s reputation has grown from skeptical to celebrated in that time. Why?

Because ketamine treatment does so much. In the brain-derived-neurotrophic-factor, the lateral habenula, the synapses, the G proteins heaped up on lipid rafts, the AMPA receptors and signals flying at high speed around your brain. For so many, ketamine can work so much better than the medications, therapy and treatments they have tried. It targets areas that were otherwise ignored before this.

IV ketamine treatment can be extraordinary in its effectiveness to help you achieve remission.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we’ve been so encouraged by the help ketamine offers that we’ve dedicated a section of our office for treating those who need to receive this breakthrough treatment. We’ve also responded to the concerns caused by COVID-19 by installing and using specialized technology that keeps the air and surfaces free of the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as the other viruses, bacteria, and molds that can threaten your health.

While we’re not attempting to conquer the entire pandemic we are busily at work to help you get better, free of depression symptoms, in an environment where you feel — and are — safe.

In spite of all the other challenges in the world, you can take them in hand best if you’re at your best. It helps so much if you’re strong, functioning, and creative to embrace today’s challenges. You need to be the best you, you can be. And a strong support system can protect you and help you build the resilience you need.

We’re here to help with that, and to get you off to a much better start for the year.

If you’ve been suffering, trudging, and feeling overwhelmed by daily living… if nothing much has helped, call us.

We believe in what you can accomplish without depression symptoms holding you back.

To the restoration of your best self,

January 4, 2021
Wake up and Dream Your Most Heartfelt Dreams This Holiday Season

A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you’re fast asleep…

At least that’s what Cinderella sang, in Disney’s classic animated movie. But… the kind of dreams you have when you’re fast asleep are actually different than the dreams your heart makes. This is the week of Christmas, which has filled children’s dreams with sugar plum fairies and their favorite toys for centuries. It’s also the Christmas of the pandemic of 2020, which has had its own impact on dreaming. We’re living history right now; yet we’re also building our futures. So maybe we should all wake up and dream to make our lives better.

But you’re not Cinderella or her Prince Charming. You’re you…and you live in the real world. And in a global pandemic, no less.

You may know Jaxon. He’s been struggling to get his feet on the ground as long as he can remember. He’s tried one job after another, year after year. But during the COVID pandemic with its lack of job security, he’s realized he’s sick and tired of feeling he has no control in his life. So he’s decided to wake up and dream. He plans to take his uncle up on the offer to pay for his training as an airline mechanic. Jaxon is good with engines, and has been studying jet engines. So as soon as the pandemic eases, he’s going to enroll in training. It will improve his life, and the life of his family. And he’s chomping at the bit to realize his dream.

Then there’s Cheryl. She’s always dreamed of furthering her education so she can be a nurse practitioner or Advanced Practice nurse. She’s already a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science degree. It will be a long road to earn the Advance Practice status, or Nurse Practitioner degree. But she wants more out of life. So she decided to not give up but wake up and dream. And the exhaustion of the COVID pandemic has shown her she wants to specialize and do her best work, as well as improve her income for her family’s sake. Her dream is to specialize in pediatrics. So she has begun taking online courses now to move toward that goal.

After 10 months of COVID-19 this year, many have become discouraged and lost the pluck it takes to visualize life beyond this. Dreams of what we want to accomplish, or create…or overcome. These are the dreams that are a wish your heart makes….

“I want to own my own business…”

“My wish is for a promotion..”

“Wishing for a spouse and family…”

“Someday, I’ll have my own daycare center.”

“My dream is to be a doctor.”

“I’m hoping to manage my symptoms so I can feel others respect me and I can build a life I’m proud of.”

A dream is a wish your heart makes… it’s something you don’t have now, but wish you did. Something that you’re willing to wait for…and to work for… that you believe would improve your life.

Your dream is the shape and color scheme of your hope. Hope says, “Life will get better.”

Your dream determines HOW it will get better.

A book published this year called Dream Big, written by the New York Times best selling author Bob Goff, is so timely for the pandemic and the stress you may feel. Actually, it’s called Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going To Do About It.

Of course, it may not be that easy to know what you want. What you wish. What your big dream is. But it’s worth it to dig deep and figure it out. You have to figure out what that dream is to figure out if it’s worth it to you to fight for it.

And figuring out why it matters is a good step toward putting down roots for the future you dream of.

Then, you’ll start taking steps. Because that dream is your lifeblood and fuel.

It’s timely that this book was published this year — 2020 — because so many have been so overwhelmed by the status quo of the pandemic, world economics, and politics, that they’ve given up the fight. Their energy is drained, along with their determination and strength to move forward.

But right now, in 2020, is the time to DREAM. Not hide, not go to sleep. And certainly not give up. But since COVID has seeped into daily life, it may seem to you that it’s too late to fight.

But you can stretch beyond the limitations you see around you in the pandemic. Reach far. Seek new possibilities. Dream big.

It’s never too late to fight for YOU.

Think of the time you have now to reevaluate and restructure your life plan. This is the time to decide if you want your life to continue, business-as-usual, or do you want to find ways to enjoy more, love more, help more.

Right now is the time to make those decisions. The ones that pursue your dreams. Because as the COVID vaccinations reach more people and the presence of this illness is reduced, and society becomes able to move around again… you’ll need to already be in your stride with your new plans, your new life style.

But there’s another facet. And that’s the fact that symptoms prevent some hard working people from pursuing their dreams. In fact, severe symptoms of anxiety or depression can muddle a person’s ability to even form his own dream.

When that happens, that person may need the treatment to get his symptoms under control so he can move forward toward his own fulfilling life.

Depression and bipolar depression are two more disorders that can interfere with your power to pursue your dream. Social anxiety can do that, too.

PTSD is an example of a disorder that can severely block progress toward the fulfillment of a dream…or even forming one to pursue.

IV ketamine treatment has well documented evidence for treating and relieving the symptoms of these disorders. It turns on mRNA which switches DNA to “ON” to turbo boost brain-derived-neurotrophic-factors which go to work proliferating the synapses (connections between brain cells) throughout your brain.

Your brain wakes up, and signals light up your brain as they carry messages everywhere at high speed. You feel joy, you feel creative, you have a renewed ability to invest in your work and healthy relationships. You can wake up and dream because you have hope.

At Innovative Psychiatry, we’re gratified to watch people come alive with hope and purpose after IV ketamine treatment. We offer this remarkable life-changing treatment in a safe atmosphere where we’ve invested in VB Enviro Care’s plasma cell technology that removes all COVID virus particles (in fact all viruses, bacteria, and mold) from the air and the surfaces in our offices.

I know it sounds a little sci-fi and actually… it is. This technology was developed at MIT and NASA to fight biological warfare, and it’s extremely effective. You’re safe here and you can be treated without fear.

We understand that the pandemic has taken a toll both emotionally and physically on so many and we want to help you restore, and achieve remission from your symptoms. So you can wake up and dream, and invest in the life you want to live.

Ketamine doesn’t work for everyone. No treatment or medicine does. But it is so effective for the majority of patients who suffer from severe symptoms. It can be extraordinarily effective when everything else has failed.

If you suffer from symptoms of severe depression, bipolar depression, PTSD, social anxiety, alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder, or suicidal thinking, call us.

You can schedule appointments for IV ketamine treatment without a long wait…usually just a few days.

Start 2021 hopeful, and empowered to live your life as your best self.

We’re here to help so you can live a truly rewarding life.

To the restoration of your best self,

December 21, 2020
Reduce Stress and Stay Safe This Holiday Season

Although some things are easier said than done…

Cecilia and Ben have been working remotely since March 2020, so they both work in their home. They’ve faced the challenge of setting up work spaces in their home so they both have privacy for their online meetings. It took some doing, moving furniture, opening up areas and storing what they could when they’d rather be relaxing on the weekend. It’s all been about reduced stress and staying safe and healthy.

So they’ve adapted. And have designed their lives around working remotely in their own spaces. For their own wellbeing and for everyone else.

They’re very careful about avoiding exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Twice a month trips to grocery store with gloves and masks. Very cautious.

Cecilia also has concerns about managing her bipolar disorder. With the help of medication, she manages fairly well. But she and Ben are careful about avoiding stressful situations to help with her stability.

They were invited to share Thanksgiving with Jake and Robin, Cecilia’s brother and sister-in-law…so they discussed–again, at length–how careful Jake and Robin were about isolation and precautions, and were assured they were extremely cautious. Both couples agreed to a COVID test the week before the holiday. All four tests came back negative.

Halfway through the day on Thanksgiving, they were enjoying a quiet time together chatting as they prepared the meal.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Jake and Robin looked at each other puzzled as if to say, Are you expecting anyone? No… are you?

When they answered the door, a jovial group of 8 more people roared Happy Thanksgiving!!! and charged through the door. The eight people included the Robin’s cousin, his wife, their 5 children, and Cecilia’s elderly mother.

Jake and Robin stepped out of the way, baffled, shocked, and horrified; Ben and Cecilia were equally horrified. Grandma came in with her walker. Four children ran through the house, and a baby in a carseat wailed from her position on the floor.

After quick greetings, and well-intended but strained smiles, Jake asked the parents of the wild offspring if they’d had recent COVID tests and they laughed and said, “No, of COURSE not!! Don’t you believe that whole COVID propaganda, Jake!! Relax! It’s Thanksgiving and it’s time for family!!!”

The new arrivals then commenced to talk about a party at another cousin’s house a few days before and what a great time they had.

“A party? How many were there?”

They held their breath.

“Aww, I don’t know… 30 or so. You should see Tom’s oldest. She is really grown up!”

So Robin said, “You know what? We love you guys and it’s great to see you…but we take this pandemic pretty seriously. We each got a COVID test last week to be sure we didn’t have the virus to expose to each other.

“We don’t want to hurt your feelings but until this COVID thing is resolved, we’re not letting anyone be here in the house who isn’t carefully isolating, using precautions, and can show a negative test result. We’re really concerned about Mom, too, because she’s high risk–she’s vulnerable to the virus and all kinds of complications. And she’s being exposed to you guys today. You’ve been with at least 30 people who may or may not have COVID, so now she has been exposed to those 30 people, too.

“To tell you the truth, you should all put on masks, and you should take her home. We can see that you don’t feel as cautious as we do, but we just have to protect our health and others the best we can.”

With bruised feelings, the cousins and Grandma all accepted masks to wear and loaded back into the car. They weren’t happy about being sent away without welcome. To say they took it personally would be an understatement.

The following week, Callie got a phone call from her mom. Her mom had not been feeling well for a couple days, so she went to the ER. With a history of heart trouble and asthma, she was worried. The hospital COVID test was positive, and Grandma was admitted to the ICU. Within 4 days, her breathing had deteriorated, and become very difficult, so her diagnosis was upgraded to COVID and pneumonia. Doctors said it was grave.

About the same time, Ben started feeling symptoms of severe fatigue, shortness of breath, and intestinal cramping. Cecilia drove him to a drive through testing center for another test. It came back in two days — positive.

Ben was the sickest he’d ever been. So weak he could barely walk to the bathroom. Cecilia tried to keep him quarantined in the bedroom. And she wore a mask and gloves and washed her hands often. After about 16 days, Ben began to improve. And Cecilia was weary and discouraged.

Cecilia’s daily calls to the hospital to check on her mom were frightening. Heartbreaking. Her mom was now on a ventilator. And her cousin’s wife was also sick with COVID.

After taking every precaution, Ben and Cecilia still found themselves exposed to COVID and were facing the possible loss of her mother. Their fear and grief were only surpassed by their profound frustration and powerlessness. They really thought they could reduce stress and stay safe for Thanksgiving.

You just never know, do you?

But all the more difficult, Cecilia’s bipolar depression symptoms were rearing up in the face of the deep frustration she felt. First frustration, then anger, then rage…at her cousin who ignored all the warnings and put her mom and everyone else at risk.

She could feel her mood moving from neutral to a dark melancholy… bipolar depression was looming… she could feel it coming on.

Oh no. How would she get through this and when her mom was in ICU? What if her mom died? It was all just too much. Her hope was dwindling. She felt both agitated and defeated… Even though she didn’t contract COVID, those around her who did played a role in her own condition worsening.

Reduce Stress and Stay Safe at the SAME Time

We’ve talked about how stress has become a traditional element of the holiday season, as we’ve allowed our traditions to become obligations. And how the stress that results from all those insurmountable obligations actually creates misery, sickness, and destructive conditions like depression and anxiety symptoms. So that to reduce that stress we need to make some hard decisions that put relationships and our own peace before the race to “get it all done.”

We’ve also talked about how this holiday season 2020 is unique because COVID cases are increasing so fast that we’ve been asked not to travel, and to limit the gathering in our homes to those who live there–and possibly one or two who’ve tested for COVID and received a negative result, and who are extremely careful about isolation and protection.

Of course, this appeal ricocheted around the internet and news media before Thanksgiving, and some heeded it. Many others ignored it.

Aside from the precautions for limiting spread of the virus that is causing the COVID pandemic, there is another issue that deserves attention. That’s the tension, anxiety, and depression symptoms that can be relegated to the ongoing news about the virus and the damage it can cause.

Add to that the conflict that arises when individuals hold opposing opinions about their decisions for celebrating the holiday… and the disagreements that erupt. Yikes.

This time of year is celebrated as a time of giving and receiving love and connection with friends and family. To worship true to your conscience, and hopefully be refreshed. Don’t you agree?

So what can you do when friends and family stir up conflict?

We all know someone who stirs up conflict wherever they go. The Button Pusher.

Then there are those who find their fuel by subtly inflicting guilt. We love them but we hate the guilt trips.

And every group has someone looking to push the crowd into doing something they don’t want to do…

Yours isn’t the only family with these delightful people.

Aren’t you glad?

The Good News. Disconnect your buttons before you have contact with the Button Pushers… Turn off your guilt switch and let the guilt purveyors buzz away while you walk away. And those Mr. Pushy types? Just say NO.

More good news: This is the pandemic year and it’s not recommended that you travel or join other households for the celebration. So contact could be limited to a ZOOM meeting. When it’s over, it’s over…!

This is a year to consider fewer gifts and more emails, cards, letters, especially those cards with pictures enclosed or attached. Share your news without exposing yourself, your family, or the vulnerable family members to potential illness.

Let the pandemic die down. Give the vaccinations some months to do their job. And let’s save Winter 2021 to hopefully move around the country and spend time with those we love.

Reduce Stress and Stay Safe — Enjoy the Holidays and Enter 2021 Healthy and Happy

And… if your efforts to reduce stress and stay safe are undermined like Cecilia’s and Ben’s were, you have options. They may be as simple as isolating and watching Christmas movies together, with popcorn and mugs of hot chocolate. But if you symptoms rise and intensify, if your medications aren’t effective in managing your symptoms of depression, bipolar depression, PTSD, alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder… IV ketamine treatment may be a very real and lasting help for you. It doesn’t work for everyone — because nothing works for everyone — but it can be extraordinarily effective even when everything else has failed.

With a series of titrated ketamine infusions personalized specifically for you and your response, you can feel like your best self again. Think back to the last time in your life when you were at your best self for a good stretch. Ketamine treatment can help you feel like that again.

It can be amazing, and has a remarkable effect on the structures in your brain. You can feel restored, with the energy to give your best on your job and in your relationships, with improved creativity. And hope.

At Innovative Psychiatry, people with these conditions and more come through every week. We have an atmosphere we keep safe from the spread of COVID due to 21st century plasma cell technology we’ve installed that destroys the COVID virus in the air and on surfaces. With the technology available anywhere to keep our air and surfaces COVID-free, and meticulous procedures in our office, you can come for treatment with confidence, and relax in a quiet private treatment room with reduced stress where you can stay safe.

Above all, take very good care of yourself, your health, your outlook, and the wellbeing of your family.

We care about you, and we’re here to help you experience relief of symptoms and the power to enjoy this time of year by enjoying what you love and those dear to you.

If you want to see what IV ketamine treatment can do for you, call us.

We understand and can help.

To the restoration of your best self,

December 14, 2020
Does Mine Look Like His?? How Disorders Look Different in Different People

It can be alarming to see you brother try to navigate his way through a challenging diagnosis like depression or bipolar disorder. His symptoms may be alarming for you, and while you’re trying to be supportive, he may feel the world is crashing in. His dramatic reactions can be overwhelming, especially when you had a friend with bipolar disorder who had a volatile temper, it seemed, and seemed hypersexed, but she didn’t act like your brother is acting now. Surely they got his diagnosis wrong. But the doctor says that disorders look different in different people…at different times and under different circumstances.

And it’s good to know.

Charlotte might be a good example.

Charlotte first began to show signs of less confidence and depression around the age of 6. She tried so hard to have a stiff upper lip, to invest her effort and perform well at school to please her parents, and to be industrious. Her parents were always so proud of her. But they didn’t recognize depression in herbecause she tried so hard.

Now, Charlotte’s family already showed signs of psychiatric disorders in other members. Her mom had suffered from depression since childhood, her oldest brother had suffered from depression since he was 4. Plus, her other brother received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. He had actually displayed symptoms since he was a young child. See the similarities?

In addition, Charlotte’s uncle struggled with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. So did her grandfather.

So much going on in Charlotte’s extended family. In fact, so much woven through the whole family.

But in her case, her primary diagnosis turned out to be severe treatment-resistant bipolar disorder. Plus alcohol use disorder, social anxiety, and some phobias.

Happily, her bipolar depression, social anxiety, and alcohol use disorder, eventually improved dramatically. Some aspects reached remission after IV ketamine treatment.

Sometimes depression or bipolar depression expresses itself as anger… even rage. Sometimes it can look like alcohol use disorder. In one person it may look like sadness and despair. In someone else, it may show up as disrespect for others. One person with bipolar disorder may seemed quiet, full of sorrow, and hopeless a lot of the time, but another might feel angry, disillusioned, and seeking revenge. How is it that the same disorder can present so differently? It can look different in different people and with different circumstances.

Lots of people wonder about the same thing. Why does one person with depression act so angry? Then someone else with depression suffers from quiet despair..? One eats carbohydrates in large amounts, and gains weight steadily. While another has no appetite and loses weight at an alarming rate?

Which came first? The chicken or the egg? Disorders have a way of emerging and creating more difficulties. Depression can give way to phobias, weight gain, social anxiety…

Bipolar depression may show up as raging anger at times, unrestrained sexuality at times, and terrible despair in one person. Then, in another person, it may look like self-harming, unlawful behavior, and substance use.

One reason? It’s not uncommon for someone with depression or bipolar depression to also experience anxiety, phobias, hypersexuality, or substance use disorder, alongside the original diagnosis. As a result, you may have a friend or relative who displays a certain cluster of behaviors, and you form the idea that this is what bipolar looks like.

Then, someone else you know is given the same diagnosis, and while they display erratic behavior, it’s nothing like the behavior of your friend.

The same disorder can look really different in different people.

So now you can meet Grayson.

He was first diagnosed with ADHD, then bipolar depression, and finally obesity.

It would be natural to assume that his depression, bipolar depression, and ADHD were all linked to each other. Since some people who exhibit ADHD symptoms as school age children, are later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. And depending on the type of depression you have, you may find you eat high carbs, or you may find out you eat very little.

Here’s Grayson’s experience:

In Grayson’s case, ADHD emerged first when he was a child. About 6 years later, bipolar disorder became a more pressing concern, which SEEMED to lead to obesity. When Grayson is experiencing bipolar depression he tends to eat more, sleep lots, and feel listless and without energy.

Disorders look different in different people.

In Grayson’s family, his own son was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 7. Then, as he grew he was diagnosed with severe depression. Grayson’s grandmother has suffered from depression all her life. His uncle has struggled with ADHD but learned to manage it in adulthood.

So.

We know that depression, and many other psychiatric disorders, run in families. And these family connections call for us to show compassion for our family members who suffer from their own individual disorders.

If you suffer from depression along with other disorders, and if your current treatment isn’t working, feel free to call us. Or ask your health care team to call us.

We welcome the opportunity to work in conjunction with your healthcare team to help you get better.

At Innovative Psychiatry, it’s true that we see multiple family members who each live with diagnoses and co-morbidities, and it’s true they may sometimes share the same diagnosis … or they may not. Although your symptoms need not necessarily be labeled, they do need to be evaluated as part of your overall self. And then they can be addressed, as needed, with appropriate treatment.

While IV ketamine treatment is not the appropriate treatment for all of the symptoms you experience, we can work with your health care team to try to help you experience your best self.

Does IV ketamine treatment help everyone who tries it? Unfortunately, no. But it does help many achieve remission and build fulfilling lives.

So do try to avoid stressful situations or tasks during this season.

Do make decisions that are productive for your own health and the health of your family.

And do call us if we can help you get better with better with IV ketamine treatment. Give yourself the best opportunity for a fulfilled 2021.

To the restoration of your best self,

December 7, 2020
Fight the Effects of Isolation Depression By Reaching Out to Help Someone

Cameron pulled back the drape to look out into the empty street. No cars were moving, but an endless row of them lined each side of the street. A recent rain left the pavement dark and glistening. He let the curtain drop and walked into the kitchen for some herbal tea. The house was dark. Quiet. He had to admit to himself, it was lonely, too. Ok there. He said it. He felt lonely…as in alone. The effects of isolation depression were getting to him.

Cam woke up each day wondering what his purpose in life could possibly be. There was no point in this endless endurance. He didn’t have the energy or motivation to do much at all. He’d been to the doctor a few times, only to take medicine that didn’t change anything except make him gain weight.

The more he thought about it the more he wanted to die. His mind focused on how he could help that happen.

He’d been fighting off this wretched despair for weeks … trying as hard as he could to rise above the gloomy, empty feeling that had been trying to drown him. Even though he’d tried cooking, he got bored with that pretty quickly. He’d tried reading. But the constant silence stifled his outlook.

They’d been told on the news to stay home. Some sort of pandemic. But Cam didn’t care …he never went out much anyway.

He kept the blinds closed, the drapes pulled, and the door locked. The idea of seeing someone, or anyone, peering into his apartment made his heart race and the hair stand up on the back of his neck.

To pay his bills, he offered accounting work for people online. You might say a virtual assistant, of sorts. He could work on his own timetable…when he could function. Office hours never had worked for him.

Then, he saw a post on social media. Something about how to reduce your own anxiety and depression.

That caught his attention.

It said to find a way to help someone. Offer to do a favor for a friend or a stranger. That by doing that, it could help lift your own mood.

Cam thought about it a moment. Hmm. The idea seemed far-fetched, even ludicrous. (Like, really ludicrous.) People who feel crummy, who have no energy, and who are miserable around others…have got to be the worst possible candidates for acts of kindness and helpfulness. People with energy should do those things.

Right..??

After digging around in the fridge, he came up with some frozen potato fries and put a generous pile of them on a baking sheet in the oven. He checked for ketchup, confirmed there was half a bottle, and returned to his desk.

While he worked on a customer account, that message about generosity and kindness ran laps around his mind.

Finally, he turned around in his chair and stretched.

Could it be? Is it possible that a melancholy loner could actually do anything that would benefit someone else?

Thoughtfully, he laced his fingers behind his head.

Good grief, he thought. We’re not supposed to leave our homes. How on earth could someone like him do anyone any sort of favor?

Aaaacccckkk! Forget about it. It’s a crazy thought and it’s not happening.

He reluctantly turned back to his work, then the timer sounded.

After serving the hot, steamy potatoes up on a plate, he decided they smelled sort of good. He poured himself a glass of iced tea, and munched away. It was unusual for him to have an appetite at all.

He studied the fried potato in his hand…rolling it to examine it top and bottom distractedly.

Finally, he dipped it in ketchup, put it in his mouth, and then it hit him.

Numbers! That’s something I have to give, he thought. Something I understand. And all the kids are schooling at home. I wonder if they need math tutoring!

Maybe it was a little thing, but for someone who had found no purpose for his life, it was a world-changing revelation for Cam.

He realized he could fight the effects of isolation depression with his own skill with numbers.

Before self doubt had a chance to suffocate his idea, Cam got on the neighborhood social app, and announced that if there were any children or teens needing math tutoring, he would be happy to offer it online. For free.

He pushed send, then his heart sank.

What had he done???

He couldn’t face people he didn’t know. He didn’t feel like they’d like him, and his way of explaining math probably wouldn’t help at all. The effects of isolation depression had intensified his social anxiety… but could he push through ?

After all, he was weird… he knew he was.

Just thinking about someone contacting him for math help — then failing at it — made him die a thousand deaths. He just didn’t need any more failure.

An hour later, he heard the familiar :::BING::: It was a message. Someone in his building had a 12 year-old struggling with math. They were happy to pay him but just didn’t know how to help their son themselves.

Doing his best to sound like he was taking it in stride, he arranged a time the next day to talk with their son.

His heart was beating pretty fast …but it wasn’t as much anxiety, he thought, but maybe more excitement.

And he had discovered something he’d been missing.

PURPOSE.

Suddenly he had the purpose to help a preteen boy develop stronger math skills.

The next morning, he woke up, got his coffee, and sat down at his desk. There were five more messages. People whose kids needed tutoring…ranging in age from 11 to 17.

Oh yikes.

He didn’t know if he should try to work with all of them. What if he had a bad day and couldn’t function? That happened pretty often.

What if he got sick ?

The responsibility for all these kids loomed over him.

But finally, he made himself calm down. He decided he would try to do this a day at a time, and if it got to be too much he’d call his doctor. Or he could quit.

But for the first time in a very long time, he wanted to try.

Cameron isn’t alone, is he? You may be in a position a lot like his. Feeling cooped up, dragging from day to day, seeing no purpose in life, and wondering how long you can endure the days.

The Effects of Isolation Depression

If you live in a city that’s been “locked down” it can be hard to fight the isolated feeling of aloneness and despair.

It may be that finding a way to reach out and help someone in a small way could give you a lift, too.

IV Ketamine Serial Infusions Can Help You Fight The Effects Of Isolation Depression

Or, it may be too much to try without some help.

If that’s the case for you,…if you’ve tried prescriptions for many months that just never did help… and you would like to see what

can do for you, we have good news. We’re offering this treatment at our office. Still.

Because it’s essential. Because it can be life-saving.

We’re sympathetic to your situation, and in this climate of lockdowns, isolation, and uncertainty, we want to help you with the equipping to not only face the days, but to enjoy them. To have the initiative and hope to find ways to help others, and to enjoy the reward of it.

This public virus situation is temporary, but for now you need all the help you can get weathering the uncomfortable circumstances that arise, and to have the resilience to help others manage them, too.

Give yourself the chance to rise above these difficulties. Give yourself the strength of resilience. We’re here to help.

To the restoration of your best self,

March 23, 2020
Ketamine and Other Breakthroughs in Psychiatry for 2019

Tomorrow is the last day of 2019…and the day before a new year – and a new decade – begins.

Let’s jump in and look back. Let’s celebrate our progress over the last year and consider the impact of new breakthroughs this year. Some of these breakthroughs in psychiatry for 2019 may surprise you.

The World Health Organization says that depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. (This is not a breakthrough–it’s one of the sad facts of our time.) And for at least 1/3 of those who suffer with it, traditional brand name and generic antidepressants on the market don’t work.

In the early 2000’s, researchers discovered that IV ketamine caused a rapid and robust response in people with major depression.

Now, 10 years later, a ketamine derivative is one of our biggest breakthroughs this year. So let’s talk about that, and other breakthroughs in psychiatry for 2019, as well.

Breakthroughs in Psychiatry for 2019

1. Esketamine (Spravato)

In March of this year, the FDA approved a derivative of ketamine, the left enantiomer of the molecule, in a specially designed nasal spray for treatment resistant depression under medical supervision in approved clinics. However, the FDA approved this to be used only in conjunction with another andtidepressant at the same tije.Use of esketamine requires the initiation of a new antidepressant at the same time.

After years of promising outcomes with IV and IM ketamine in treating depression and other disorders as an off-label treatment, FDA approval of esketamine presented a milestone — it’s a novel form of treatment as a nasal spray and it uses a derivative of a medication that we’ve been using successfully and safely for years. PTSD, cocaine use disorder, alcohol use disorder, bipolar depression, social anxiety, and suicidal thinking can all respond to IV ketamine.

While esketamine hasn’t been studied for most of these conditions, it can create a robust add-on response to an antidepressant in some patients who benefit from low doses. And the beauty of it is that because of its FDA approval, esketamine as a medication is covered by many insurance programs.

Although there are tons of hoops to jump through, red tape, paperwork, REMS monitoring (the risk mitigation program that the FDA requires that all doctors and patients participate in).

So… FDA approval marked a new breakthrough in psychiatry for 2019, and a milestone in ketamine’s journey. The quest for wider acceptance as a remarkable treatment for people who’ve remained depressed in spite of traditional medicines.

This 21st century novel and advanced treatment for psychiatric disorders is changing the face of disability.

Growing numbers of people are experiencing not only improvement, but remission from their symptoms, and are recovering to build fulfilling and rewarding lives, relationships, and futures.

Here at Innovative Psychiatry, we offer both IV ketamine treatment and esketamine nasal spray for those patients who are candidates for these treatments.

2. Telemental Health Support

Healthcare services provided by online video or telephone has been growing for a number of years. It has improved medical care for shut-ins and the elderly who have difficulty accessing it in the office. Psychiatric patients in remote areas have received better psychiatric coverage through this means of communication.

By combining technology with new policies, telemental health has advanced in its effectiveness again. Sometimes using a method of treatment reveals new opportunities for improvement as challenges reveal themselves.

So, The National Center for Performance Health in Florida recently established ecare4kids. This tele-counseling program serves public school children in Florida with online tele-counseling. All 50 states provide some amount of tele-health services through Medicaid.

Then in February 2019, Congress introduced the Mental Health Telemedicine Expansion Act. The Ways and Means Committe approved it in June of this year to ensure more psychiatric health care in remote areas throughout the US.

3. Gene-guided medicine

The Human Genome Project completed mapping the genome in 2003.

So what’s a genome?

Good question. It’s the complete set of DNA, or the genetic material, found in a microorganism or the cell of any living thing. In this case, we’re specifically talking about human DNA.

To clarify, DNA is made of a pair of twisting or spiraling strands that consist of four chemical units which we call nucleotide bases. And the bases are made of adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). These bases are paired in specific patterns, i.e., an A is paired with a T, and a G is paired with a C.

Now imagine this: there are 3 billion of these base pairs in your DNA, which are held within 23 pairs of chromosomes…in the nucleus of every cell of your body.

You can see how ambitious it was for this team to take on the project of mapping all this out.

Well, now that we have that mapping, the obvious next step follows the reduction in price of mapping your own individual genome. The initial mapping project was estimated to cost 30 million dollars.

But the more they use this process, the more the process reduces in cost. The next steps can feasibly include things like getting your own map so your medical and health needs, and even the medicines you take, can be so specifically customized to your genetic profile as well as your environment and lifestyle, that the effectiveness of treatments you need can soar.

Which brings us to the point that the disorders we talk about and treat are, in most cases, inherited to some degree. So you see multiple family members suffering from psychiatric illnesses at the same time…and all too often — severe illnesses.

Imagine if we could better fit a medication or treatment specifically to your DNA profile. And the same for your family members. So much suffering from side effects could be eliminated.

We have important information already available to us about the cytochrome P450 enzyme system (the enzyme system in the liver responsible for the oxidative metabolism of many of our medications) …and at Innovative Psychiatry we use evidence-based genetic information as we have available to help explain your responses and guide your treatment.

4. Genetic Editing

…Say what?? It hasn’t been that long since we figured out what the genome looks like. Now we’re talking about editing it? Like editing a paper?

Well, sort of.

It turns out that this year genetic scientists broke through in a major way with a possible method for potentially removing genetic links to disorders and diseases like Alzheimer’s, ADHD, and autism, and replacing those links in the individual’s DNA with healthy links.

So…scientists at Harvard and MIT took the wraps off a new approach to what they coined, “prime editing.” The chemist/biologist who led the unveiling described its usefulness as a metaphor of Word processing.

A total WOW.

He said these little prime editors search for certain DNA sequences and precisely remove them, then replace them with sequences that don’t produce disease. He says that 89% of disease-causing defects can be resolved by this method…eventually.

Such astounding breakthroughs in psychiatry for 2019 – what can they imagine next?

The potential here goes without saying. What would happen if we would eventually do a little primed editing and edit out suffering? Like the kind associated with severe depression? With bipolar disorder? With alcohol dependence? With anxiety? We get breathless just thinking about it!

5. Psychiatric Healthcare with Cell Phones

A technical/data science/healthcare company (Mindstrong) has secured a handful of patents to develop an innovative method of providing mental healthcare services over cellphones.

By partnering with your health insurance company, services can be provided to you free of charge, including evaluations, psychotherapy, psychiatrist visits, medication evaluations, and support when things unexpectedly come up between doctor visits. Their psychiatrist will work with yours to provide smoother and continuing care. And because it’s designed to be free (for you), more people can receive care for their disorders.

Using a mobile app, text therapy can be provided as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Coping and Emotion Regulation, Psycho-education, Crisis Management, Reflective Listening, and Empathy.

Since 75% of Americans own a cell phone, finding a way to reach a broader audience with mental healthcare is evolving to naturally involve mobile phones. Hmmmm…..

Digital phenotyping collects data from the smartphone to provide measures of cognition and emotion. They say that the way you use your cell phone tells them a lot about your mood and state of mind. They can’t see you but they collect data.

They’re not covering every cellphone in the US yet, but they’re growing…and it won’t be long.

What do you think about this idea? I’d love to hear your comments below.

With all these psychiatry breakthroughs in 2019, it’s easy to get caught up in the sci-fi talk and forget what we have NOW.

We’re living in a new world, and IV ketamine treatment IS sci-fi.

We could not have imagined in the past century that a medicine originally designed for anesthesia would come out of the woodwork and actually provide a solution to major depression, alcohol overconsumption, opiate dependency, anxiety disorders, PTSD, OCD, bipolar depression, and suicidal inclinations. Ever.

Let’s not miss what’s right in front of us.

IV ketamine treatment can resolve depression symptoms.

This is the jarring news we take with us into the new decade.

Depression, PTSD, OCD, social anxiety, bipolar depression, substance use disorders, and suicidal thoughts no longer have to be a final sentence. You can get better. Your life can transform to a new, meaningful, rewarding source of joy…and hope.

If you wonder whether IV ketamine treatment could work for you, call us to schedule an appointment and come in. We invite contact from your health team, and we’d love to collaborate with them to help your life transform.

We look forward to the opportunities to meet you and discuss options in the new year.

Have a Happy and Healthy New Year in 2020 – full of hope, purpose, and joy.

To the restoration of your best self,

December 29, 2019

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