Special K Club Drug Could Hold Key To Depression Treatment

Ah club drugs, the new psychopharmacology frontier. It was only a
matter of time before the mental health profession became aware that
recreational drugs could unlock some doors into alternative
treatments.  To be completely honest, I think some in the profession
already fully understand the links. Now, we already know the studies
suggesting prescription use of marijuana could be beneficial in
treatment of anxiety disorders.  What we’re now learning, is that
Ketamine(street name Special K) could change the way we view treatment
for Depression.  SSRIs, or anti-depressants are imperfect, but they’re
really all we’ve got at this point.  We view depression as a chemical
imbalance, but the more accurate cause might be more structurally
based.  New research is suggesting that Ketamine actually works to
rebuild the synaptic connections(everybody go back to biology, or
physiological psychology here) helping rebuild the brain’s neurons to
send and receive necessary signals. Of course there are concerns…like
the fact that Special K is highly addictive and have some fairly
trippy side effects such as hallucinations, dream-like states and some
irrational behavior…However, if the primary basis for this drug could
be reformatted into a more therapeutic medication then people with
depression could see a rapid decrease in symptoms and the effects
would actually work to rebuild the damaged areas of the brain, not
just substitute the chemical.  So get your inner rave on mental health
workers, who knows, maybe next week we’ll have “LSD & Borderline
Personality Disorder: The new ‘border’ patrol”