At-Home Ketamine Therapy Shows Mental Health Benefits

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME –

July 21, 2022 – Several sessions of at-home ketamine therapy supported by telehealth are a safe and effective way to treat moderate to severe anxiety and depression, a new study found.

The results, recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, suggest that an at-home approach using ketamine tablets that dissolve under the tongue rather than intravenous (IV) infusion or intramuscular injection could make ketamine therapy more accessible.

But experts caution that more rigorous studies are still needed to determine how well ketamine therapy compares to traditional treatments for anxiety and depression.

Ketamine, once mainly used as an anesthetic, is gaining ground as a potential treatment for depressive disorders and suicidal ideation in clinical settings.

Medical professionals may administer ketamine directly into a vein (intravenous or IV) or into a muscle (intramuscular injection) in clinical settings.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also recently approved esketamineTrusted Source, a form of ketamine that’s administered with a nasal spray. Esketamine therapy may be used in conjunction with an oral antidepressant for the treatment of depression in people who didn’t benefit from antidepressants alone.

In addition, ketamine tablets may also be dissolved under the tongue (sublingual), which has been shown to improve symptoms in people with treatment-resistant depression. (Sublingual ketamine therapy was used in the new study).