Psychedelics
What is Psychedelics?
Psychedelics are often smoked (and inhaled), eaten, or brewed into tea. Use of hallucinogens goes back centuries in many cultures, and some are still used in religious ceremonies to experience spiritual or heightened states of awareness.
Hallucinogens were used in psychotherapy in the 1960s, but this was halted for mainly political reasons until quite recently.1 Psychological research has since revived the use of psychedelics in experimental psychological treatment.
How does Psychedelics work?
Aside from ketamine’s anesthetic and hallucinogenic effects, research has suggested that ketamine prompts the production of glutamate in the body. Through a cascade of events, it stimulates the brain to create new neural connections, a process called neuroplasticity. As a result, the brain is able to adapt and individuals with depression have the opportunity to develop more positive behaviors and thought processes.
Currently, there are two main methods of administering ketamine.
- Intravenous (IV): Ketamine is infused into the bloodstream.
- Intranasal (IN): A more potent form of Ketamine, otherwise known as esketamine is administered by a nasal spray
- Other methods include intramuscular or oral routes.
Intravenous and intranasal methods of ketamine are FDA-approved. Administration guidelines require ketamine to be carried out in a physician’s office or clinic under the supervision of a healthcare provider.
In comparison to antidepressants, ketamine alleviates symptoms of depression quickly. Instead of seeing results over a period of weeks from medications, individuals with treatment-resistant depression have felt improvements within hours.
What are the side-effects of Ketamine?
Patients may experience few side-effects during or after treatment. Ketamine may cause nausea, vomiting, high blood pressure, headache, drowsiness, or dissociation. However, these side-effects subside as treatment continues.
