Digging a Little Deeper

Depression is a mental health disorder, something that simply cannot be cured by mere positive thinking or the choice of engaging in various activities as a form of distraction. Struggling with a depressive order entails a proper treatment, which can only be given by an expert. Left untreated, the disorder can eventually bleed into one’s professional and personal life, slowly destroying life. 

Unfortunately, depression can affect almost everyone, even without a clear reason. To treat it, a series of medications may be prescribed, topped with psychotherapy sessions to ensure holistic healing. One of the most compelling treatments for depression remains to be Ketamine, which is a dissociative anesthetic with psychedelic properties, administered by experts. 

To learn more about this substance, we’ve created this quick and easy guide for you to follow:

Ketamine as a Treatment for Depression

In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved one particular type of ketamine for the treatment of treatment resistent depression. It was approved under the name esketamine, or Spravato as called by the drug manufacturer. Before this approval by the FDA and currently, the less expensive form of ketamine has been prevalent as an off-label drug to alleviate treatment-resistant depression and other mental health conditions. This specific ketamine approved by the FDA is very costly, used intra-nasally, and does not create the psychedelic experience, and as a result many providers working with ketamine often do not prescribe this type of ketamine. Other routes of administration are more frequently used and the majority of the research has been around the use of intravenous administration.

Unlike antidepressants like venlafaxin (Effexor) or fluoxetine (Prozac), ketamine works by blocking a receptor in the nervous system called N-methyl-D-aspartate or NMDA. The traditional antidepressants work on the serotonin receptors. The effects vary depending on the individual, with some patients with depression responding to ketamine while others do not experience the intended effects. The reason behind the varied responses to the drug still remains under investigation by researchers.

What Could Be Hindering Your Healing?

Not enough sessions 

Ketamine treatment has varied effects for different people, with some people already experiencing some improvements after one or two sessions. However, some people do not feel the effects until after 4 sessions or later.

If you do not experience the effects of ketamine treatments on the first or second session, it may be tempting to just shrug it off as ineffective, but it’s important to be patient with yourself and continue the process for at least 4 treatments. For most people, the treatment is not as simple as flipping a switch. Continuing your ketamine treatment can be vital for the steady improvement of your neural connections and subsequently, your mood.  Having dedicated integration or therapy support also can improve results and sustainability of those results.

Wrong dosage 

Ketamine is a sensitive drug, and should therefore be used with caution. The aim is to administer just the right amount of dosage, preferably not too low and not too high.  However, it is important to note that this right amount will vary per person and a number of factors besides just weight are taken into consideration when dosing.

Too little or too much can cause the entire treatment to crumble, which is why it’s important to only seek ketamine treatment done by a specialist. You’ll want a plan tailored specifically to your needs, so that your healing follows soon after.

The Bottom Line

Depression is an unfortunately common mental health disorder, but the good news is that it comes with a variety of treatment options. Holistic healing comes with understanding the patient well, and then coming up with ways to treat them as an individual—and never a statistic. Proper administration of ketamine allows holistic healing but remember to always seek a professional.

For the best mental health treatment in Santa Monica, CA, Stephanie Lyn Coleman MD is the place to go. We offer you a well-structured ketamine therapy program, ensuring that you regain quality of life and fall in love with yourself once more. Book a consultation today. 

Need A Break From Those Negative Thoughts

Have you ever had an unwanted thought or image that got stuck in your head? For the average person, this may seem like a normal occurrence that you usually just ignore and move on. However, for some people, these thoughts keep popping right back up and can be hard to ignore. Those unwanted ideations are called intrusive thoughts, and nearly every person has experienced them at some point in their lives.

Intrusive thoughts are usually harmless if left alone. However, for people who obsess about them so much to the point of becoming an interference and distraction, it can be quite problematic. Let’s explore how intrusive thoughts affect people differently and what can be done to help those who suffer from them.

Living with OCD and Intrusive Thoughts

Everyone experiences having intrusive thoughts from time to time. But people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other mental health conditions are often more distressed by these thoughts and may experience them more frequently. Intrusive thoughts can come in many different forms. Here are a few of them:

• Violent acts

• Being hurt or hurting others

• Death

• Sexual thoughts

• Negative self-talk

• Your safety or the safety of your loved ones

It’s important to remember that intrusive thoughts shouldn’t be confused as warning signs or something that reflects on who you are as a person. A healthy way to cope with these thoughts is to treat them as nothing more than passing thoughts that occasionally pop back into your head and disappear just as easily as they appeared.

A person with OCD will see this a bit differently as they can easily get overwhelmed by these intrusive thoughts. Even if you have no desire to act on them, it can be quite challenging to stay focused with all those negative and uncomfortable thoughts.

What Is Ketamine?

Ketamine is a medication used to traditionally for anesthesia. The medicine can induce the feeling of relaxation and can also help relieve pain. It is considered a class III scheduled drug and is approved for use in hospitals and other medical facilities for its anesthetic effect. 

Despite having a reputation as a “recreational” drug prone to abuse, ketamine is safe to use in controlled medical practice. Aside from its anesthetic effect, we have discovered the benefits of administering ketamine “off-label” as medication for people with treatment-resistant depression and other mental health conditions. We utilize the ability of the medication to create a non ordinary state to give the “normal” brain function a break, which means also a break from the intrusive thoughts.

Ketamine for Intrusive Thoughts

If you’re diagnosed with intrusive thoughts and other related mental conditions like OCD, ketamine therapy may be able to help. Ketamine allows patients to achieve clarity of mind and a greater focus on therapy and recovery. Unlike traditional antidepressant medications, Ketamine s a treatment that’s done under the supervision of a medical professional and should only be done with a proper mindset and setting created. By leveraging the relaxing, euphoric, and mind expanding properties of ketamine, you may find relief from all those intrusive thoughts that have overwhelmed you.

Conclusion

Intrusive thoughts are sudden, involuntary ideas that can be at times disturbing and isn’t something to worry about. However, if you obsess over these thoughts, they can be unhealthy for you and your mental state, which is why ketamine is a medication that can be used to treat patients with OCD or intrusive thoughts.

If you or your loved one is suffering from OCD and other emotional or mental health issues, trust only one name to help you. Stephanie Lyn Coleman MD lets you take back control of your life through ketamine therapy and holistic medicine. Take your first step towards a happier life. Contact us today!

Ketamine and Depression

Did you know that around 16 million adults experience major depression every year in the USA? While there is growing awareness surrounding the average person’s mental health status, every case needs different solutions. Some people benefit greatly from therapy, others from medication, and, for many, a mix of both. 

One particular solution that has been gaining traction among people who suffer from major depression is ketamine. This article will discuss ketamine and how it can help with this condition.

The Problem With the Current Situation

Here is a current look at the present situation in the country: when you are diagnosed with depression, your doctor provides you with medication. 

Unfortunately, this solution does not provide the treatment you need. Most of the traditional medicines used for depression in the US today take days before their benefits kick in. Some of them may take as long as months before the relief from symptoms takes effect.

Furthermore, although FDA-approved, the traditional depression prescriptions cause drowsiness, constipation, nausea, weight gain, and other unwanted effects. Ketamine does not give you these effects, and it works fast.

What Is Ketamine?

If it is your first time hearing about ketamine, you might be surprised to discover that it has been used in the medical field for years, on the battlefield, and in operating rooms. Nowadays, it is proving to be the solution to depression in many individuals. 

Though it is not yet an FDA-approved antidepressant as of writing, it is an off-label treatment that has been used and is preferred by thousands of patients with depression. It has become a favorite because of its tranquilizing effects. 

People battling depression who start to receive ketamine can re-engage with their lives again. Their symptoms also improve dramatically, and they are generally happy with the results.

That is why some doctors have started to treat their patients with ketamine. For these doctors, the increasing number of people with depression and the rates of suicide are crises that should not be taken lightly. The solution should also be more aggressive, effective, and fast. 

Ketamine works as an efficient alternative for many patients. It addresses problems in the brain by repairing the damage that long-term exposure to stress hormones left in their wake. That makes it a quicker solution to an immediate problem. 

What Is In a Ketamine Treatment?

Although highly recommended, ketamine is often only recommended to patients once they have tried every possible traditional antidepressant medication and treatment or never suggested by their mental health provider at all. We encourage those who are suffering from depression to reach out and schedule a free consultation to see if ketamine therapy may be right for you.  

Ketamine can be administered by a number of different routes. The most common routes are oral, intravenous, intramuscular injections, and intranasal spray. The frequency depends on your doctor's recommendation. Based on the research focused on intravenous infusions, we often recommend 4-6 ketamine treatments with 1 -3 treatments per week. However, it is important to tailor the number and frequency to the individual patient.

Conclusion

People suffering from depression might need to consider the options that could work for them. Ketamine is a good alternative for those who have tried all the possibilities to no avail. However, like other medications, they should only be recommended and provided by healthcare professionals.

Are you looking for psychedelic therapy to improve your depression condition? If you are interested in ketamine, let Stephanie Lyn Coleman, MD, help you with her ketamine therapy. Dr. Coleman is a licensed physician trained in traditional western medicine culture. She is skilled in combining holistic treatments and western medicine. Contact us to understand more about how it works. 

Learn More About Ketamine Assisted Therapy

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Over the past few decades, the psychological health sector’s research and development levels dedicated to furthering the capabilities of modern treatments have exponentially improved. 

As the field itself continues to evolve alongside its tools, techniques, and methods, the lives of millions of patients have seen tremendous improvements in their overall conditions. In the case of psychotherapy, constant advancements have allowed the field of study to progress in terms of remedying mental health issues that have persisted without cures for centuries.

If you’ve been meaning to help yourself or a loved one get treatment for a problem like PTSD, depression, or suicidal thoughts, then you’ve most likely tried using psychotherapy to recover and improve. While the treatment method itself can prove to be useful when it comes to making way for progress, greater results can be expected and achieved when ketamine is brought into the mix! 

The support behind ketamine

While it may seem like a stretch at first, ketamine therapy is more than a mere science experiment, mental health fad, or outdated alternative to counseling. 

With a storied application in emergency rooms, operating rooms, and battlefields that extends to over half a century and counting, it seems as if the drug bears a point for consideration for mental health treatments. As the list of studies backing the breakthrough use of ketamine itself for various purposes grows, it’s clear that it has come a long way from its single-purpose image where it was only used to relieve physical pain.

How does it help with mental health?

Although ketamine is often associated with providing pain relief, scientific research has tied it to an abundance of benefits for one’s mental health, thanks to testing and constant development. 

Based on the findings of a growing number of studies, scientists have discovered that the drug in question possesses profound neuroregenerative effects on the brain. Neuroregeneration has been recognized as a crucial process in the recovery of mental health patients because of its ability to undo any damage that causes a decline in one’s psychological fitness.

Based on these scientific findings, ketamine has been proven to help form new connections that rebuild nerve cell connections and alleviate mood disorder symptoms. The ability to rebuild can lead to successful long-term recoveries because destroyed nerve cells are recognized as the catalysts for conditions such as chronic trauma, depression, and anxiety! 

Putting the two together for the best results

Like psychotherapy, using ketamine treatments for mental health can lead to desirable outcomes when used correctly. Yet, it is capable of achieving even better results when paired with the aforementioned treatment.

Using the advantages of ketamine therapy and standard psychotherapy, Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) helps spark mental health improvements through progressive treatments. The capability of this treatment to achieve marginally better results than either of its comprising approaches alone lies in two key factors:

1. Conducting a guided psychotherapy session with a patient under a low dose of ketamine allows them to enter a trance-like state where they can interact freely with a therapist while utilizing the anti-depressant effects of the drug

2. Psychotherapy provided before and after a ketamine treatment makes it easier to increase dosing for greater physiological change and makes way for conducive sessions even without mid-consumption interaction

With the two bases for function mentioned above, a patient will be able to better manage their health condition because KAP makes it easier to achieve progress by handling and approaching challenges more productively. Dr. Stephanie Lyn Coleman’s team, urge patients to undergo the treatment method in question because of the wide range of benefits it provides, some of which are (but not limited to):

• Constant symptom relief

• Improved brain health and recovery (which also happens through induced plasticity that modifies cognitions and behaviors requiring synaptic plasticity)

• Improved independence in mental health management

Conclusion

Dealing with a mental health condition as best as possible will always require the right treatments to ensure the best results possible—this is where Ketamine-Assisted Therapy can be especially helpful. Through the use of KAP, you’ll be able to significantly improve the quality of treatment you’re getting and boost your progress in no time!
If you are interested in Ketamine Therapy in Santa Monica, LA, and the surrounding areas, then you have come to the right place. We specialize in mental health treatments and therapy methods to help you overcome any mental issues brought on by the pandemic. Get in touch with us today to schedule a consultation!

Covid Effects on Mental Health

Wherever we look, we can see the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses have shut down left, right, and center, people have lost their jobs, and we have all been forced to adjust our daily routines and lives because a virus threatens our lives.

Social and physical distancing protocols have been put in place to help us avoid getting contaminated by the disease. By staying home, we are all able to remain physically healthy and virus-free. Our physical bodies will benefit from staying physically isolated. However, not the same can be said for our mental health.

How COVID-19 Affects Mental Wellbeing and Health

Most of us have experienced some shifts in mental health throughout the time COVID-19 has run rampant, but do you really know how the situation has affected our emotional wellbeing as a whole? Let’s take a look.

Depression and Anxiety

People who have depression may feel that the effects of their condition magnified in these trying times. People may begin with having anxiety because they lost their job or a loved one because of the pandemic. Others may feel that they are being cut off from the rest of society because of the strict protocols that are being implemented. Even for people who do not have depression, living in the age of coronavirus may have an extremely negative effect on one's mood. Those feelings can amplify in sadness and emptiness that seems to never go away.

Isolation and Loneliness

As mentioned earlier, part of the reason people are developing mental issues is because they are being required to stay home. If you are one of the people who lives alone, you will feel the loneliness in a more profound way than people who have roommates or live with other family members.

Stress

Different types of stress may be brought on by the pandemic and its effects. People may be stressed because they are not used to the work-from-home dynamic, they may also be stressed because they have lost their job entirely because their company had to close.

 While it is true that people handle stress differently, it is also true that everyone is feeling some level of stress because of this global pandemic.

Ketamine Treatment for Depression

Ketamine treatment and therapy is now being explored as an effective way to deal with pandemic-induced uptick in depressive symptoms. There may be dozens of other antidepressants on the market, but experts have discovered that patients who have ketamine in their treatment regimen show astounding results in comparison to patients that don't.

Ketamine can support people struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, burn out, and covid long haulers syndrome. Ketamine therapy can get you results that therapy alone takes years to produce and doesn’t produce all the side effects of traditional anti-depressants.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any indication that the virus will be disappearing anytime soon. However, the silver lining is that there are treatment methods available to help people deal with their depression. Luckily, keeping in touch with loved ones, friends and relatives is not as difficult and complicated as it once was. Using Ketamine treatment while making sure to touch base with the people you care about will help you see a significant improvement in your mental state.

 If you feel depressed because you feel trapped in your home, or because of other effects of the COVID-19 viral pandemic, seeking treatment in a more holistic way. Then we will help you get a grasp of your current mental state and recommend treatment methods to improve it.

Should you be interested in Ketamine Therapy, go to Stephanie Lyn Coleman MD and schedule a free consult today! We specialize in treatments and therapy methods to help you overcome any mental issues brought on by the pandemic. Visit us today and see the difference!