By Lauren Tanabe
Some experts view ketamine as a tool to unravel the biological causes of depression and, perhaps someday, cure it.
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The mind-altering drug has been shown to help people suffering from anxiety and depression. But how it helps, who it will serve, and who will profit are open questions.
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My first encounter with ketamine did not go well.
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Through this treatment plan, the patient was able to “reconceptualize her trauma” and “was able to move through difficult memories and emotions rather than letting them consume her,” explained U of O associate professor, Monnica Williams.
To treat depression, the neurons which control the hormones serotonin and dopamine in our brains seem to get all the attention.
Often, disabled people have their disability treated, but they don’t have their emotional or spiritual needs addressed.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, has acknowledged that after the 2012 games, his longtime depression was so overwhelming he thought about killing himself.
Demand from patients seeking help for their mental illnesses has led to underground use in a way that parallels black markets in the AIDS pandemic. This underground use has been most perilous for people of color, who face greater stigma and legal risks due to the War on Drugs.
The first randomized controlled trial to compare the illicit psychedelic psilocybin with a conventional selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant found that the former improved symptoms of depression just as well on an established metric—and had fewer side effects.
Amazonian healing traditions collide with Western medical sensibilities.
Raison believes depression isn’t a single thing but a cloud of related mental and physical states unique to each person; there is no one symptom that every depressed person experiences.