Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has been found to be effective in treating a wide range of mental health symptoms. You’re probably more familiar with antidepressants since they’ve been the mainstay of mental health treatment for the last three decades. Traditional antidepressants work by managing serotonin levels in the brain, but many patients aren’t helped by their antidepressants. In fact, the drugs may be a barrier to regaining mental health via other therapeutic options. For instance, the STAR*D study uncovered that most antidepressant users received no demonstrable benefits in treating their depression. Worse, antidepressants may increase the chance that other therapeutic approaches are less effective. But ketamine works differently than most antidepressants and, according to many clinical trials, is more effective than antidepressants in treating resistant depression. The consensus of these trials is that 70% of patients receiving a ketamine infusion for depression experienced a decrease in their symptoms. That’s a marked and impressive difference between antidepressant use and ketamine treatments! Although Ketamine can be habit-forming if used incorrectly, when administered in a clinical setting, it has significantly less potential to develop dependence. Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that allows the patient to disconnect their consciousness from their idea of who they are. This allows a more objective view of oneself from outside the narrative our ego builds and that we use to define our identity. In this state, the patient is able to see how their beliefs, behaviors and patterns of both thought and action cause them distress.