Ketamine Therapy Safety

Are Ketamine Treatments Safe?

Ketamine is a compound that was first synthesized in 1963 and found to be an extremely safe and short-acting dissociative anesthetic and analgesic (pain reliever).

Ketamine was approved by the FDA in 1970 as an anesthetic and analgesic, and has 5 since been widely used for adult and pediatric treatments in emergency and operating rooms, combat zones, and trauma medicine.

In 1985, Ketamine was listed on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines.

In many controlled research studies, Ketamine has shown rapid reduction of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Ketamine is increasingly recognized as powerfully beneficial for treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, suicidality, OCD, post-
traumatic stress disorder, and substance use.

Ketamine interacts with parts of the brain associated with negative feelings and mental preoccupations. Because of the ways it impacts neural connectivity, it helps the brain to function in new, more flexible ways in response to stress.

Ketamine is compatible with most other psychiatric medicines and can be a powerful adjunctive support to traditional medical and psychological treatments.

For Daydream MD’s ketamine treatments, sub-anesthetic doses of ketamine are given—only a fraction of what would be administered during a surgical procedure

When administered at these doses, ketamine allows individuals to experience different planes of consciousness in a similar manner to other classic psychedelic medicines.

Often, it precipitates a state of “ego dissolution,” which is viewed by many psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners as the doorway to healing.