What is Ketamine?

Note: I am not a physician or ketamine prescriber. As such, I am not involved in the distribution or acquisition of any substances, and have no access to them personally. As a clinician I assess for a client’s clinical eligibility for possible treatment and then refer clients to medical doctors for a medical intake. The physician then assesses for a client’s medical appropriateness for the medicine.

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has been used safely for years in setting to sedate people for surgery. It has more recently been recognized as a viable and powerful medicine to help people manage the symptoms of depression, addiction and substance dependencies, and PTSD. The “dissociative” aspect of Ketamine refers to the ways in which it impacts a person’s sense of self and typical connection to time, perception, and awareness. When managed appropriately by an accompanying physician Ketamine can be prescribed for patients to create a psychedelic effect that allows the client to experience a different state of consciousness. These states allow someone to experience a way of thinking that bypasses our “default mode” of processing information, thereby opening someone up to new thoughts and an increase in neuroplasticity, which is term for how our brains grow and change.