Does Ketamine Therapy Only Treat Depression?

While ketamine therapy is well-known for its ability to help with treatment-resistant depression, it isn’t just for depression. Its healing potential extends beyond just one condition.

In fact, Dr. Hadi Estakhri and our team at Allied Psychiatry & Mental Health in Newport Beach, California, offer ketamine therapy to help with a variety of conditions.

Let’s take a look at other conditions that may benefit from ketamine therapy.

Anxiety disorders

According to research published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, ketamine therapy can also help ease symptoms of various anxiety disorders and phobias thanks to its anxiolytic effects. (The word “anxiolytic” refers to medication that treats anxiety; it comes from two Greek words that mean to loosen anxiety.)

This includes generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety, specific phobias (e.g., blood phobia and agoraphobia), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Postpartum depression

Postpartum depression is a challenging condition, and ketamine therapy has shown promise in providing relief for new mothers struggling with depressive symptoms. Some researchers are even looking at how ketamine therapy might help prevent depression in at-risk mothers, although clinical studies haven’t been completed just yet.

Research is ongoing to explore the safety and effectiveness of ketamine in this specific population, but the Ketamine Research Foundation laid the groundwork for future research by studying the effect of ketamine on lactating mothers. They found that in the 12 hours following treatment, ketamine levels rapidly declined in breast milk.

This opens the door as an option for mothers who don’t want to expose their nursing baby to traditional depression medications.

Pain conditions

Dr. Estakhri focuses on ketamine therapy for the treatment of mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, but it’s still important to know how ketamine is used in other settings.

Ketamine has analgesic properties that make it beneficial for managing acute and chronic pain conditions. According to research, ketamine can provide pain relief for up to 12 weeks in the case of complex regional pain syndrome, but that’s not the only pain condition that ketamine has been used to treat.

Research is currently ongoing for the use of ketamine in pain management plans for conditions such as cancer pain, fibromyalgia, and neuropathic pain.

Note: Ketamine isn’t intended for people with mild pain.

Other factors to consider

Ketamine therapy isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Individual responses can vary, and treatment plans are often personalized based on your specific mental health condition.

Ketamine therapy is administered in a controlled and supervised setting here in our office. This ensures safety and allows Dr. Estakhri to monitor you closely during your infusion and/or your intranasal application of Spravato™.

If Dr. Estakhri determines that ketamine therapy isn’t right for you, you’re not out of options. Other potential treatments to address your symptoms include:

Medication
Outpatient detox
Medication-assisted detox (i.e., Suboxone® and Vivitrol®)
Lifestyle changes such as limiting sugar and increasing exercise
Therapy
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatments

Whether you’re looking for help with depression or you’d like to learn more about ketamine therapy, schedule a consultation at Allied Psychiatry and Mental Health today by calling us at 949-945-0927. You can also book an appointment online anytime.