From Dance Floors to the Doctor's Doors: Ketamine's Emerging Role in Mental Health

From Dance Floors to the Doctor's Doors: Ketamine's Emerging Role in Mental Health...

In this episode we have on a special guest, friend and colleague, Dr. Spencer Zimmerman, to discuss the world of Ketamine.

Dr. Zimmerman calls Idaho home where he runs a clinic that serves people both locally as well as from across the country.

He has a unique back ground with his specialties in functional neurology, peptide therapy, ketamine therapy and functional medicine and he uses this unique understanding to approach and target a variety of chronic disease and complaints.

Ketamine has a unique history, originally gaining FDA approval in 1970 for use in humans as an anesthetic. It was used commonly in surgery and on the battlefield as an anesthetic due to its safety profile compared to alternatives.

On the street, Ketamine became popular as a party drug, with common street names being "Special K, K and Cat Valium". This drug became known on the street for the dissociation, euphoria and the altered perception it would place on its user.

In the early 2000's Ketamine began receiving scientific interest for its psychiatric potential. The early scientific observations showed ketamine had rapid-acting antidepressant effects. This is where our episode on ketamine keys in on and the growth of ketamine in the world of mental health.

We discuss the potential benefits with Dr Zimmerman on the benefits of ketamine for: Depression; PTST; Anxiety and OCD. We also discuss the mechanism of how ketamine works and the various routes of delivery.

Lastly, we jump in and discuss with Dr. Zimmerman how to get the most out of treatment with ketamine and how to approach the entire health picture and not solely focus on Ketamine as a stand alone. Dr. Zimmerman emphasizes ketamine can drastically help improve brain chemistry but there are other important areas that we discuss that also impact brain health that often go overlooked in many of the ketamine clinics out there. This is where an integrative approach is essential to serving the patient.

We hope you enjoy our discussion as we dive into the world of Ketamine and its potential uses in the world of mental health.

Health, Wealth and The UltimateSelf Team.