Cleveland Clinic
my.clevelandclinic.org › health › treatments › ketamine-therapy
Ketamine Therapy: What It Is, How It Works & Side Effects
January 19, 2026 - Ketamine therapy uses a low dose of an anesthetic to treat depression, anxiety and some chronic pain. It works by blocking certain brain signals and helping nerve cells form new connections.
PubMed Central
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC8715255
Ketamine for the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders: comprehensive systematic review - PMC
In the past two decades, subanaesthetic doses of ketamine have been demonstrated to have rapid and sustained antidepressant effects, and accumulating research has demonstrated ketamine's therapeutic effects for a range of psychiatric conditions. In ...
Ketamine treatment experiences?
When researching treatment options, my friend made this super helpful google sheet comparing different treatment providers in detail . He shared it with me and told me I was free to share it with others. It's been updated along the way, so it should be up to date now. He did some pretty deep research on these options in my opinion, but it probably doesn't include every single option out there though. I'm thinking this is a helpful place to share it so people can get an idea of what the treatment entails. He went with the first option in the sheet and was rather happy with it, but clearly said that Ketamine is NOT a miracle drug. More on reddit.com
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June 18, 2024My Ketamine Therapy Experience (full write-up, newbie friendly)
I'm so glad to hear about your positive experience with ketamine therapy! It's great to see how it's helping you find relief and make meaningful progress. Your detailed write-up is quite insightful for those who might be considering this therapy. Personally, I found a better life through this therapy. It provided me with the support and tools I needed to navigate life's challenges. It's amazing how accessible and effective it can be. More on reddit.com
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October 21, 2022Controversial opinion: We as clinician should be more skeptical of ketamine
To be honest ketamine is so outside of my scope of practice I don’t feel comfortable supporting/not supporting it. If a client had a question regarding this, I would recommend they discuss this with a medical professional such as a psychiatrist or primary care physician. More on reddit.com
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February 19, 2025I had a Ketamine Infusion and it’s Changed My Life. Ask me anything.
Here is what it did. It lifted all of the trauma away so I can see things clearly. I can understand WHY I do the things I do and what I’m trying to get out of it. For instance: trauma dumping. I do it because I want people to know the truth about my life. What I wanted really was for someone to reflect it back to me. Validate me. So, now that I know what it is I’m trying to get out of trauma dumping, I can work on finding a solution that won’t involve me trauma dumping all over. Things like that. It see the connections between things. It’s really your basic psychedelic revelation experience. The words are the same. But I cannot say things like “the veil has been lifted” but that’s what it is like. I can see my life beyond the trauma. It’s made me kinder to myself because I understand why I am the way I am. I’m not stupid. I’m just hurt. My mom hurt me and my dad and step mom hurt me and anyone would be hurt if they’d been through what I’ve been through. So it gave me compassion for myself. Those of you out there who have an over abundance of empathy like me? Imagine feeling that for yourself. It’s incredible. I like myself. Anyway. Those are a few things. There’s so so much more. More on reddit.com
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January 28, 2024How are patients assessed throughout their ketamine treatment?
- Treatment side effects are screened at every visit to inform ongoing care.
- The patient’s medication list is reviewed and updated as needed.
- Suicidal ideation is screened at every visit, with appropriate steps taken to support the patient and avoid self-harm.
- Patients are not allowed to receive Spravato in conjunction with ketamine infusion or externally prescribed oral ketamine.
- While ketamine has not been studied for safety in pregnant women, animal studies have indicated it could be harmful to a developing fetus. Risks of a fetal exposure to ketamine are minimized by ensuring patients know to use reliable birth control, asking patients when their last menstrual period was and doing a pregnancy test if there is a concern for pregnancy.
- Patients must be at or near their baseline mental status and able to safely move around and care for themselves before discharge.
- A driver must sign the patient in and out to reduce the risk of post-treatment accidents. Violations of the driving policy can result in termination from treatment with ketamine or esketamine.
lifestance.com
lifestance.com › home › ketamine therapy
Ketamine Therapy & Treatment Near You | LifeStance
How is patient improvement monitored throughout their course of ketamine treatment?
- Patients are administered depression and anxiety screenings such as the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 at every visit.
- The patient’s response to ketamine treatment is reviewed with the patient to determine whether to continue into maintenance treatments.
- Screening tools are used to measure symptom improvement, with a goal of at least a 50% decrease in a patient’s depressive symptoms. In cases of a lesser response, subjective quality of life improvements and collateral information from the patient’s primary support person are considered in treatment planning.
lifestance.com
lifestance.com › home › ketamine therapy
Ketamine Therapy & Treatment Near You | LifeStance
How is the risk of ketamine treatment vs. untreated illness assessed in a high-risk patient population?
- Ketamine and esketamine aren’t first line treatments for depression. By the time a patient considers these treatments, they are likely to have moderately severe to severe depression, and many patients may have thoughts of suicide. We consider risk of untreated illness versus risk of treating with these medications as part of treatment planning and patient consent.
- Mental health and medical records are requested and reviewed as needed.
- Collaboration with specialists (cardiology and neurology) is conducted to obtain “clearance” for treatment when indicated.
- Participation in psychotherapy is recommended for all patients receiving ketamine treatment.
lifestance.com
lifestance.com › home › ketamine therapy
Ketamine Therapy & Treatment Near You | LifeStance
Videos
01:30:14
Mind Matters: Ketamine for Mental Health Treatment — What's the ...
03:52
How Ketamine Treats Depression - Yale Medicine Explains - YouTube
McLean Videos | What Is Ketamine Therapy and How Does It Work?
02:54
Ketamine and Depression: From Despair to Hope in Hours - Carlos ...
09:45
IV Ketamine Therapy: Watch A Patient's Transformation from PTSD ...
13:46
Ketamine Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression - YouTube
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
publichealth.jhu.edu › 2024 › what-to-know-about-ketamine
What to Know About Ketamine | Johns Hopkins | Bloomberg School of Public Health
June 10, 2025 - Ketamine is an NMDA receptor antagonist, meaning it blocks the N-methyl-D-aspartate neurotransmitter in the brain. It was developed in the 1960s and used as a battlefield anesthetic in the Vietnam War, as well as clinically in health care settings. But the settings in which ketamine was developed and historically used were highly regulated and supervised inpatient health care facilities.
American Psychiatric Nurses Association
apna.org › home › ketamine checklist
Ketamine Checklist | APNA
November 3, 2025 - Ketamine infusion therapy involves the administration of a series of infusions for the management of psychiatric disorders (e.g., major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, acute suicidality). Ketamine is a noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that ...
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
cuimc.columbia.edu › news › ketamine-treatment-depression-what-you-need-know
Understanding Ketamine Treatment for Depression | Columbia University Irving Medical Center
July 14, 2023 - Ketamine targets different subsets of neurotransmitters in the brain than conventional SSRIs, so patients who haven’t found therapeutic effects with traditional antidepressants may have better luck with ketamine therapy.
Harvard Health
health.harvard.edu › blog › ketamine-for-treatment-resistant-depression-when-and-where-is-it-safe-202208092797
Ketamine for treatment-resistant depression: When and where is it safe? - Harvard Health
February 15, 2024 - Originally derived from PCP, or "angel dust," ketamine has been used in hospitals and veterinary clinics as an anesthetic for decades. It's also been cited as a drug of misuse under the moniker "special K." More recently, it has been widely used for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) - that is, severe depression that has not improved with several other therapies...
Aana
aana.com › home › practice › clinical practice › clinical practice resources › ketamine therapy
AANA | Ketamine Infusion Therapy
January 21, 2026 - Ketamine is a noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that has traditionally been used for the induction and maintenance of anesthesia. Esketamine nasal spray, the s-enantiomer of ketamine, is FDA-approved for the treatment ...
Northwestern Medicine
nm.org › healthbeat › healthy-tips › emotional-health › ketamine-therapy-for-depression
Ketamine Therapy for Depression | Northwestern Medicine
Ketamine therapy is an option for treatment-resistant depression. Learn how it works and if it’s right for you.
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
wexnermedical.osu.edu › mental-behavioral › interventional-psychiatry › ketamine-therapy
Ketamine Therapy | Ohio State Medical Center
We mainly offer intranasal esketamine, ... Ketamine therapy uses low doses of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, to treat depression and suicidal thoughts and actions in adults with major depressive disorder....
LifeStance Health
lifestance.com › home › ketamine therapy
Ketamine Therapy & Treatment Near You | LifeStance
July 20, 2022 - Ketamine is an FDA-approved anesthetic agent that can be used as an in-office, medically monitored treatment for depression. Is Ketamine Available In My State? ... Should I continue seeing my current psychiatrist, therapist, or primary care physician as a follow-up after Ketamine therapy?
Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital
brighamandwomensfaulkner.org › programs-and-services › psychiatry › ketamine-esketamine
Ketamine and Esketamine Therapy - Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital
For some patients with depression, standard treatment with antidepressant medications, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and psychotherapy prove ineffective or insufficient. In those circumstances ketamine, or its derivative esketamine, has the potential to improve symptoms of depression even where other therapies have been insufficient.
Massachusetts General Hospital
massgeneral.org › psychiatry › treatments-and-services › ketamine-clinic-for-depression
Ketamine Clinic for Depression
Research from the past decade indicates that intravenous ketamine and intranasal esketamine (Spravato) can be effective treatments for patients suffering from depression. Both forms of treatment have been shown to work in patients with ...
Address 55 Fruit Street, 02114, Boston
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Ketamine-assisted_psychotherapy
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy - Wikipedia
2 weeks ago - Ketamine offers a notable advantage as opposed to currently-approved antidepressants, as it has a rapid onset (2–24 hours post-infusion) of temporally limited, but sustained, antidepressant and analgesic effects (typically lasting 4–7 days). Its dissociative, psychedelic effects could also provide patients with increased neuroplasticity and cognitive flexibility that would enable more effective participation in therapy sessions.
Stanford Pain News
painnews.stanford.edu › news › ketamine-chronic-pain-treatment
Ketamine for Chronic Pain: What to Know Before Starting Treatment | Stanford Pain News
June 18, 2025 - Ketamine is being used to treat chronic pain when other options haven’t worked. At Stanford Pain, Dr. Theresa Lii is leading clinical care and research to better understand how it helps—and who it helps most. Stanford’s research efforts have been instrumental in shaping the understanding of ketamine’s role in pain management, with Dr.
Yale New Haven Hospital
ynhh.org › psychiatric › services › specialized-services › esketamine-ketamine
Esketamine and Ketamine Therapy - Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital
In the late-1990s, researchers at the Yale Department of Psychiatry were the first to discover that the drug ketamine, which is primarily used to induce and maintain anesthesia, provided rapid relief to some chronically depressed patients who did not respond to traditional medications or treatments. Although research continues to show benefit, ketamine infusion therapy is not approved by the FDA for depression.
UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute
psychiatry.uams.edu › clinical-care › interventional-psychiatry › ketamine-infusions
Ketamine Infusions | UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute
Ketamine has been incorporated into the treatment of psychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as post-operative and chronic pain management. Ketamine infusion therapy is not a first-line therapy for psychiatric disorders or chronic pain management and may be considered by the patient’s interdisciplinary team after failure of standard treatment.
Meetradial
meetradial.com › blog › ketamine-therapy
Ketamine Therapy Explained: Benefits, Risks, and What to Expect • Radial
Ketamine therapy is a fast-acting treatment option for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other hard-to-treat mental health conditions. Ketamine can lift symptoms in hours, in contrast to the weeks or months it can take for traditional antidepressants ...
Northwell Health
northwell.edu › behavioral-health › treatments › ketamine
Ketamine treatment - Behavioral health | Northwell Health
Ketamine therapy is a treatment that can provide fast-acting relief to some people with depression, particularly if they have not benefitted from first-line treatments. Ketamine has primarily been used for anesthesia for many decades. Research shows that instead of rapid infusion as occurs ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/depression_partners › ketamine treatment experiences?
r/depression_partners on Reddit: Ketamine treatment experiences?
June 18, 2024 -
Hey all -
My wife's team has started to broach the subject of alternative depression treatments such as ketamine. She's proven pretty resistant to drugs to treat her depression.
Has anybody's partner gone through ketamine treatments? Any stories or feedback on the experience?
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When researching treatment options, my friend made this super helpful google sheet comparing different treatment providers in detail . He shared it with me and told me I was free to share it with others. It's been updated along the way, so it should be up to date now. He did some pretty deep research on these options in my opinion, but it probably doesn't include every single option out there though. I'm thinking this is a helpful place to share it so people can get an idea of what the treatment entails. He went with the first option in the sheet and was rather happy with it, but clearly said that Ketamine is NOT a miracle drug.
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My husband did 2 rounds of ketamine injections at a clinic. (Each round was 3 weeks, 2x per week). It helped, but didn't really have any real lasting effects which was really disappointing because it seemed to be a miracle for so many people. He eventually got insurance to pay for Spravato, which is a nasal esketamine spray but it wasn't as potent as actual ketamine. From what I've read ketamine is not any more or less effective that ECT or TMS, but given the big push by private clinics not covered by insurance, it's a bit more accessible. (In my metro area you could only get TMS through a psych hospital, we would have to travel further for ECT.) I really really really believed ketamine would have helped him. It got very dark for me when it wasn't working as well as I wanted it to. What ended up being the thing to turn him around was more or less forcing him to demand that his psychiatrist and PCP to refer him to a partial hospitalization program at a psych hospital, where he maxed out the 2 week stay. A change in meds (SSRI to SNRI), doing a different type of therapy (Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which is similar but not the same as Cognative Behavior Therapy) and being in the partial program doing 5+ hours of group therapies every day helped him feel empowered to want to make changes. And he did, and 6 months later he's climbed out of his hole with a lot of trepidation. I've been through the fucking wringer with him, we spent so much goddamn money we are so fortunate to have and it was frightening when ketamine was not the miracle for us. That being said, it's definitely worth trying, but try not to put all your hopes on to it. There are places that do IV infusions, which may be better for someone who does not have experience with psychedelics. My husband has tripped recreationally in the past so he felt comfortable doing the intramuscular injections. The difference is that one the shot is given (they start you off on a small dose) you can't take it back, whereas with an IV line they do drips and drips and you can ease in to the trip. The part that helped him is that during the trip, he could recognize and realize the actual realities of his life that were not clouded by the crap of depression. People report that this sort of mental clarity helps them make connections and realizations that they just couldn't do in an unaltered state. Ketamine allows new neural connections to be made, the science of it is remarkable. There are tons of experiences people have written about, google can bring up a lot, and it really sounds fantastic. Despite it not having worked for my husband, I am a fan and a believer. Even the temporary relief from his depression made things more bearable, and I think the little bit that it did allowed him to (reluctantly) go to the partial hospitalization program.
University of Utah Health
healthcare.utah.edu › hmhi › treatments › ketamine-infusion
Ketamine Infusion | University of Utah Health
November 20, 2025 - Recently performed and published studies have shown that a very low dose of ketamine infused over one hour have had dramatic positive effects on clinical depression, especially towards suicidal feelings and in cases that don’t respond to standard treatment.