For people with depression, even those who have previously resisted other types of treatment, ketamine infusion therapy may be a suitable aspect of a sophisticated care plan. Traditional antidepressants follow a familiar strategy; they increase the supply of a certain class of neurotransmitters within the synapses (the part of the neurons that send electrical or chemical signals). These synapses are thought to have a role in depression. Though the antidepressants may not work for some, they typically take a week or more to take effect, and some people who have previously resisted other forms of antidepressants may fail respond to such treatment at all.
As the traditional forms of treatment take a long time to take effect, it suggests that their medication-induced changes in neurotransmitters are ‘several steps’ away from the processes that are at the root of what really causes depression. Ketamine infusion therapy breaks the traditional approach, hailing the potential discovery of rapidly acting antidepressants that, work from around 6 hours, as opposed to after 6 weeks.
There are, however, a few potential disadvantages to ketamine infusion therapy. For one, it is administered intravenously. Second, its effects are considered transient (transitory). Third, due to its powerful effects, the client must be monitored continuously. In a study on the use of ketamine infusion therapy and its effects on patients in the depressive phase of bipolar disorder, ketamine was shown to restore pleasure-seeking behaviours in the subjects. These effects were achieved independently from the use of antidepressants, and also far ahead of them.