What is Ketamine and what does it do?

Ketamine has been around since 1956 and has been used in a variety of settings in healthcare. The medication has been used as an anesthetic, pain reliever, and has even been used in veterinary offices for these purposes in animals.  Ketamine has been used on the battlefield and its mental health effects were noticed during the Korean war when soldiers who had undergone small procedures with ketamine had less PTSD, depression, and anxiety.   The medicine has been researched and studied and results indicate ketamine has many different components and mechanisms of action inside the brain. These broad modalities enable this drug to be used in many areas of mental health, and are potentiated when therapy can be combined. Some of ketamine's mechanisms work on the following brain structures:

Ketamine is known as a NMDA receptor antagonist. When blocking the NMDA receptors, the brain makes more of the excitatory neurotransmitter called glutamate. Many recent studies have verified, not only do low serotonin levels play a vital role in depression, but also glutamate. The quick increase of glutamate can boost a patient's moods quickly and motivates dormant neurons to re-open to begin working again.

Ketamine turns off a specialized part of the brain called the lateral habenula, which is also called the anti-reward center. This is why it can be beneficial using ketamine with therapy, as this mechanism allows easier processing in therapy and gives permission for the patient to talk about difficult emotions too scary to bring up in previous sessions. It reduces the amount of reactivity in the brain for difficult emotions and allows patients to get further in their healing journey.

Ketamine puts a blockade between the brain structures of the limbic system and cerebral cortex, causing a temporary break in automatic thinking patterns. Initiating the break in negative cyclical thoughts can help reboot or reset the brain and can move patients away from negative thinking patterns towards neutral or more positive thoughts.

Ketamine works on BDNF or brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which initiates the growth of new neurons and connections between neurons. Patient's will begin making new pathways in their brain and will restore the ones that have been damaged due to years of depression and anxiety.

Ketamine allows the patient to see their life from a different perspective. Seeing from a new view can help patient's see where they might be stuck and can reveal how they can heal. Ketamine can create and enable self-revelation on modalities to move towards acceptance or help patients understand how they can move forward and remove barriers.