Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic approved by the US Food & Drug Administration in 1970 as a safer alternative to existing anesthetics. Ketamine is a prescription medication that doctors can also prescribe off-label for treatment of depression, anxiety, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and other mental health conditions.

Fast-acting: Often people experience relief in depression and anxiety symptoms within hours to days, rather than the weeks to months before changes may be seen in traditional medication and psychotherapeutic approaches.

Legal: Ketamine is currently the only legal medicine providing experiences similar to those found in traditional psychedelic medicines.

Safe: See below in ‘Is ketamine safe?’

Gentle: Ketamine offers a gentler, yet still powerful, experience compared to traditional psychedelics, which can be more anxiety-inducing.

Short Duration: For most people, a session lasts around 90-120 minutes, which makes it easier to make time for and results in less of an interruption in other aspects of one’s life, including medication schedules. Most other psychedelic medicines require a 4-12 hour commitment.

Versatile: Ketamine has shown benefit across a wide spectrum of mental health conditions in addition to being helpful in self- and spiritual-exploration, and grief work.

Former head of the National Institute of Mental Health, Thomas Insel, has called ketamine “the most important breakthrough in antidepressant treatment in decades.”

Ketamine has a long history of safe use with children, adults, and animals in medical procedures and is listed as one of the most important medicines by the World Health Organization, largely due to its safety and effectiveness. Ketamine is the only anesthetic medicine that doesn’t require oxygen because, unlike other anesthetic medicines and opioids, it does not depress the respiratory system, which could cause someone to stop breathing.

With ketamine’s established safety record for use in anesthesia, the doses used for mental health applications are a fraction (10-25%) of the doses used in anesthesia procedures. The Ketamine Treatment Centers noted they have delivered over 20,000 psychiatric doses without one serious adverse event.

As part of the intake process, a medical-psychiatric screen will be done by a medical provider to determine if there are any risks or considerations unique to your health background. During the therapy sessions, clients are also monitored by medical professionals.

Ketamine has a low incidence of side effects and most are mild. Of the side effects that are more common, they occur in 10% or less of individuals. These include elevated blood pressure, elevated heart rate, nausea, light-headedness, feeling somewhat off balance, and drowsiness.

To reduce the likelihood of nausea, clients are asked to fast for 3-4 hours prior to their ketamine session and may be offered anti-nausea medicine just before their session if they have a history of nausea or motion sickness.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration classifies ketamine as a Schedule III drug, which means it has a low to moderate potential for physical and psychological dependence, yet this is seen in chronic, frequent, high dose use. In the dosages and frequency of administration used in Ela Healing, ketamine does not pose risk for addiction.