_edited.jpg)
Ketamine Therapy Center
Cedars-Sinai East Tower
.jpg)
.png)
“Recent data suggest that Ketamine, given intravenously, might be the most important breakthrough in antidepressant treatment in decades.”
– THOMAS INSEL, MD, DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH, 2002-2015
If a healthcare professional has recommended this treatment to you, we invite them to complete this referral form.
TREATMENT-REFRACTORY DEPRESSION
KETAMINE FOR TREATMENT-REFRACTORY DEPRESSION
Major Depressive Disorder, also referred to as depression, is a frequent and significant psychiatric disorder that has an adverse impact on a person's feelings, thoughts, and daily functioning. Depression can impair a person's capacity to operate at work and at home by causing unwarranted emotions of sadness and a loss of interest in activities they once found enjoyable. The largest cause of disability worldwide is depression, which is also linked to a 10-year drop in life expectancy. Even when combining numerous antidepressants and using a variety of augmentation methods, existing treatments for depression still have a 30% failure rate. When depression has not improved sufficiently after being treated with two or more conventional antidepressants, it is referred to be "treatment-refractory".
Since 1970, ketamine has been used without risk as a surgical anesthetic. Since the early 2000s, research demonstrating its value as a fast-acting, safe antidepressant drug has been published. More investigations in recent years have demonstrated its security and efficiency in treating depression that has resisted treatment (TRD). On the use of ketamine in the treatment of mood disorders, official treatment guidelines were issued in 2017 by the top psychiatric publication, JAMA Psychiatry. Esketamine (brand name Spravato), a purified version of ketamine for intranasal usage, received FDA approval for TRD in March 2019. The FDA has not approved the off-label use of generic ketamine for the treatment of depression or other psychiatric problems, but experts generally agree that there may be a greater benefit due to the flexible dosing options and higher blood levels made possible by generic ketamine.
KETAMINE ACTS LIKE NO OTHER ANTIDEPRESSANT
When used in conjunction with other effective treatments for depression and other mood disorders, ketamine therapy is a potent choice. Ketamine joins lithium and clozapine in a very narrow category of drugs because of its ability to lessen self-harm. No other antidepressant has ever been proved to have a reduction in self-harm.
​
While most antidepressants work on the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, or norepinephrine, ketamine suppresses glutamate, a neurotransmitter linked to stress. Additionally, ketamine has been demonstrated to assist in promoting the rebuilding of neurons in a depressed patient's brain, most likely by raising brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). One of the most severe signs of depression is suicidal thoughts, which ketamine can help with. One ketamine infusion "rapidly reduced the degree of suicidal thinking, within 24 hours in more than half the patients, and with effects noted up to 1 week," according to numerous studies.
Effective: In patients where adding another antidepressant has a less than 50% probability of working, there is a response rate of 70%.
TOP
BENEFITS OF
KETAMINE
THERAPY
Fast-acting: Unlike weeks for conventional antidepressant drugs, possible improvement could be shown as soon as 24 hours following the first dose.
Safe & well-tolerated: Few adverse effects after a couple of hours. Being so safe, it is the anesthetic of choice for youngsters undergoing emergency surgeries.
Addresses self-harm: Can lessen suicidal ideas or actions
Simple: Can take the place of daily antidepressants
LEARN MORE ABOUT KETAMINE THERAPY
.png)
.png)
References:
​
1. World Health Organization, Media Center, Depression Fact Sheet, Updated March 22, 2018. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression.
2. Walker ER, McGee RE, Druss BG. Mortality in mental disorders and global disease burden implications: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry 2015; 72(4): 334–341.
3. Rush AJ, Trivedi MH, Wisniewski SR, Nierenberg AA, Stewart JW, Warden D, et al. Acute and longer-term outcomes in depressed outpatients requiring one or several treatment steps: a STAR*D report. Am J Psychiatry 2006; 163: 1905–17.
4. Moda-Sava RN et al. Sustained rescue of prefrontal circuit dysfunction by antidepressant-induced spine formation. Science 2019; 364: 1–11.
5. Schwartz J, Murrough JW, Iosifescu DV. Ketamine for treatment-resistant depression: recent developments and clinical applications. Evid Based Ment Health 2016; 19(2): 35–38.
6. Wilkinson ST et al. The effect of a single dose of intravenous ketamine on suicidal ideation: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis. Am J Psychiatry 2018; 175(2): 150–158.
7. Murrough JW, Perez AM, Pillemer S, et al. Rapid and longer-term antidepressant effects of repeated ketamine infusions in treatment-resistant major depression. Biol Psychiatry 2013; 74: 250–6.