Ketamine Therapy

Over the past ten years, ketamine has emerged as a promising treatment for depression, particularly treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, anxiety, substance abuse, chronic pain, OCD, eating disorders and other conditions. It has been used in surgery for anesthesia since 1970, its safety has long been known and it’s considered an essential medicine by WHO. For depression and other conditions, much lower doses are used and it is most commonly given by intramuscular injection (im) or iv infusion in an office visit. While it is not known exactly how ketamine works, it has been shown to cause neuroplasticity, which is the formation of new connections in the brain and also seems to disrupt the Default Mode Network (DMN), a network in the brain where long standing feeling and thought patterns, such as seen in depression and PTSD, are engrained. What we see is that benefit from ketamine is very rapid, often appearing within days, and that the treatment is deep, transformative and a limited number of treatments (usually 8) causes lasting change in symptoms and overall benefit for many people. It also appears to decrease inflammation and pain signals in the brain. Instead of covering up or dulling symptoms, many people report that they feel like themselves again.

Ketamine therapy has the potential to provide deep and lasting benefit for our community members who are struggling with depression, PTSD, chronic pain, addiction and other conditions. Please discuss ketamine therapy with your primary care provider, or consider making an appointment with your primary care provider to discuss if ketamine therapy at Taos Whole Health may benefit you.

 At this time, insurance does not cover ketamine therapy.  We at Taos Whole Health are dedicated to improving access to this essential service and are working with research studies and organizations dedicated to improving access.  However, currently this is an out-of-pocket service.