Ketamine is a hot topic at the moment from it’s healing powers for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and even OCD, but the shot heard round the world is that Ketamine, this psychedelic drug is now helping others with their drug addiction.

Lamar Odom has recently opened up about using ketamine for addictionKetamine Treatment for his drug addiction. Lamar told ABC News Steve Osunsami “I went to rehab and did some other things, but Ketamine came into my life at the right time and I am feeling amazing.”

So why are people like Lamar Odom using psychedelics like Ketamine to help treat their drug addiction? The mind-altering attributes associated with Ketamine can actually help weaken the triggers associated with drug addiction.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed ketamine as an “essential medicine,” and says it is “a good safety profile and is easy to use,” and “the medical benefits of ketamine far outweigh the potential harm from recreational use”.

So how can Ketamine help people who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction? Well, it can help disrupt the harmful patterns and behaviors associated with addiction, so it can override the memories of the addictive behaviors. How it does this is by blocking the brain receptor called NMDA (which is effective in treating depressive symptoms). This is needed for memory formation and helps regulate your mood. So by using Ketamine to block the brain receptor, it can help remove the memories altogether or at least weaken the triggers associated with alcohol and drug addiction.

Ketamine was approved by the FDA in the 1970’s as an anesthetic and is now used to treat many mental health conditions and it can be taken as tablets, nasal spray, but at Dr. Ditzell Psychiatry we find that patients receive the best results when taken under a psychiatrist’s supervision in person and receiving the Ketamine Treatment through an IV while also receiving a psychotherapy session.

Research has shown that using Ketamine treatments alongside psychotherapy sessions can help reduce alcohol-related harmful behaviors while also reducing depressive-related symptoms.

When a person is showing signs of depression or alcohol or drug abuse, it is thought that the process of learning and forming new memories is impaired, that’s where Ketamine comes in. Ketamine actually promotes the growth of new neural connections in the brain, so it can help the brain be more receptive to new information. 

Unlike some medications that take weeks or months to start getting relief, Ketamine can give rapid results sometimes within hours. 

Dr. Ditzell has been offering ketamine treatments along with therapy in his New York City office for the past 3 years and has helped many people get the relief they had been looking for with their treatment-resistant depression.

Contact our office today to see if Ketamine Infusion Therapy can be the right treatment plan for you, whether you are having issues with alcohol or drug abuse or even treatment-resistant depression.

Call +1 646 751 7908 and speak to any of our office staff to learn more or schedule an appointment.