What is it?
Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health defines major, or clinical, depression as a mood disorder that is much more than unhappiness. Its main symptom is persistent sadness and despair that affects your ability to function.
Symptoms in adults can include:
- Feeling sad, hopeless or worthless
- Loss of interest or pleasure in all or most normal activities; lack of energy
- Trouble concentrating, thinking, making decisions and remembering things
- Anger or irritability
- Sleep problems, such as insomnia or sleeping too much, and some physical issues, such as headaches or back pain
- Eating less/weight loss or eating more/weight gain
- Suicidal thoughts or attempts
If you are having suicidal thoughts, call 911 immediately or visit your nearest hospital.
Current treatments include:
- Medications, such as antidepressants (for example, SSRIs, which aim to boost levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin).
- Psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and other evidence-based therapeutic interventions
- Brain stimulation therapies, such as magnetic stimulation (TMS) or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which can cause memory loss
These treatments may be used individually or in combination. Clinical depression currently needs to be managed over a person’s lifetime.
If you have been diagnosed with depression and have had partial or no success with current treatments, you may be a candidate for ketamine treatments.
How can ketamine help?
For those who have tried conventional treatments and have not experienced relief, ketamine has been found by a growing body of research to treat major depression. Ketamine is a completely new approach because, contrary to existing medications, ketamine is thought to work on a different neurotransmitter called glutamate. It has been found to stimulate the regrowth of connections between neurons, healing the areas of the brain that have been weakened due to excessive stress exposure, effectively rewiring the brain. Though research is ongoing, studies have found it can alleviate depression symptoms in a matter of hours. In some people, the effects are lasting after a prescribed course. Others need booster treatments.
If you feel this could be a suitable treatment for you, and have questions, contact us. If you would like to be referred by your doctor to the Toronto Ketamine Clinic, you can print out this form for your doctor or forward this link.
The information found on this website is not to be construed as medical advice. Please see a licensed health-care professional for help with your medical condition.