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Ketamine has been around for decades but only in recent years has it found applications in mental health. Ketamine treatments are available in two main frameworks, either with a course of psychotherapy or as a standalone medication. Read this guide to learn more about how ketamine treatment works and how it is used in therapy.

What is Ketamine?

Discovered in 1962 and patented in 1963, racemic ketamine is an arylcyclohexylamine used as a rapid-acting general anesthetic agent in human and veterinary medicine. Following FDA approval in 1970 as an anesthetic drug, ketamine is now legally prescribed off-label for a growing list of indications.

From the Streets to Psychotherapy Offices

What is ketamine treatment originally for? Ketamine is an anesthetic. It was discovered in 1962. However, since then, ketamine has been on an odd journey. Due to this, ketamine is widely misunderstood. Here’s why.

There are 2 main ways the vast majority of Americans have come to know ketamine.

Hearing it referred to as “horse tranquilizer.” And/or, hearing it referred to as its slang name among the electronic dance music and rave scene – “Special K”.

The mass media sensationalized these two soundbites over recent decades in order to bypass a nuanced conversation while pandering to the status quo’s anti-drug hysteria.

Although, to be fair, both of these misrepresentations have a bit of truth to them.

After its discovery, ketamine was later used widely in the Vietnam war, thanks to its pain killing effects that don’t inhibit respiratory functioning like other anesthetics. Ketamine can be preferable to other drugs and treatments due to its lower physically addictive quality. A dose used in this way induces a dissociative state providing pain relief, sedation and amnesia.

Ketamine is well known as a party drug and an anesthetic, but a growing body of evidence suggests it could also be a breakthrough mental health treatment.

A Mountlake Terrace clinic is using a novel therapy on some patients with treatment-resistant mental health challenges — but is it safe?

Once considered a dangerous dalliance brought on by the hippie generation, psychedelic drugs encouraged people to “turn on, tune in and drop out.”

However, a growing body of evidence suggests drugs like ecstasy, psilocybin mushrooms and ketamine needn’t be so much about escaping reality, but rather, confronting it. Some hallucinogenics have proven beneficial to people struggling with chronic mental health conditions.