Ketamine is a legal, safe and effective medicine that is best known for both its pain relief and psychedelic properties. It is used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, OCD, and PTSD. Ketamine has rapidly- acting antidepressant and mood-enhancing effects. (It works by blocking the brain’s NMDA receptors as well as by stimulating AMPA receptors, which are thought to help form new synaptic connections and boost neural circuits that regulate stress and mood. Ketamine has also been shown to enhance overall neuroplasticity for lasting symptom improvement.)

Ketamine can be administered in a variety of ways, including IV infusion, intramuscular injection, via nasal spray and using sublingual lozenges. In my therapy practice, I currently only use the sublingual lozenge form. This oral method of administration involves holding a ketamine lozenge in your mouth for 15 minutes while it is absorbed by the lining of the mucous membrane and then spitting out the medicated saliva.

Ketamine was created in 1962 by organic chemist, Calvin Stevens. In 1970, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Approved (FDA) it for human use. 

The first reports of using ketamine in psychiatric treatment came in 1973. Since then, research and accounts of varying experiences have painted a successful picture of ketamine in treating anything from depression to addiction to post-traumatic stress disorder. Ketamine has been on the World Health Organizations (WHO) Model List of Essential Medicines since 1985. In 2019, ketamine became the first psychedelic drug to be approved by the FDA for mental health use. Today, it is still used globally as an anesthetic, often with children, as well as psychiatric treatment and exploration. The doses used in psychiatry are a small fraction of the doses used for anesthetic purposes.

An explosion of research has repeatedly confirmed ketamine’s potential to resolve destructive mental patterning in depression and other mental health conditions at least in part through stimulation of new neural connections. With ketamine, we see a regrowth in the number of synapses, their interconnectedness and ability to connect with each other. This is part of the reason that ketamine has the ability to target and work with a different system in the brain than typical antidepressants and other psychotropic medication.

There is evidence that ketamine can have a very rapid onset of effects on neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is our brain’s ability to be able to change, adapt, and be malleable so it is able to form and reorganizesynaptic connections, the connection between nerve cells. Therefore, has the ability to open up a critical period where the brain is now more plastic at the cellular and the functional level. This is where we can work to change your reference of thinking and your ability to respond and adapt to new social and environmental stimuli. With ketamine, we’re triggering the brain’s resilience mechanisms to promote the maintenance of healthy circuits in the brain.on text goes here

2019 study explaining why KAP works best with therapy

What is ketamine-assisted psychotherapy?

Science behind ketamine and the brain

The impact KAP has had in real people’s lives