The hours and days following ketamine, personal defenses seem to relax and with the proper support, may allow habitual thought, feeling, and behavior patterns to be more easily shifted toward well-being. Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that is used medically for various purposes, including anesthesia, pain management, and treatment-resistant depression. Once someone has been medically stabilized from a ketamine overdose, this may be an ideal time to speak to them about the benefits of seeking substance misuse treatment regarding their ketamine use (or use of other drugs). Addressing the behavioral aspect of ketamine misuse through professional intervention could be a valuable tool in preventing these dangers from being realized.
Ketamine Addiction Treatment Center and Recovery Program Options
Inpatient rehab programs offer a structured and intensive approach to address the underlying issues contributing to ketamine abuse. Multiple case reports have cited naltrexone as a promising treatment for ketamine withdrawal. However, more research is needed to determine if it’s an effective treatment for ketamine addiction. Repeated exposure to ketamine causes the body to stop responding to the drug as it once did, leading the individual to use larger and larger doses to achieve the desired effects. This can contribute to the cycle of ketamine abuse and addiction, prompting the individual to continually seek out the drug despite negative consequences.
- The drug is sometimes used to facilitate sexual assault because it causes sedation and memory loss.
- This may involve outpatient therapy, support groups, and ongoing monitoring to prevent substance use disorders.
- Ketamine was first used in medical procedures for anesthesia in the 1960s.
- An average dose of 2 mg/kg (1 mg/lb) is typically needed to induce around 5 to 10 minutes of anesthesia or dissociative effects.
- American Addiction Centers (AAC) is committed to delivering original, truthful, accurate, unbiased, and medically current information.
- The drug is also not suitable for individuals with schizophrenia or who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Ketamine Addiction
Thanks to an interesting loophole in the laws governing drug advertising, ketamine is now marketed for the management of any number of different psychiatric illnesses. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic pain are the big ones, but it’s also being marketed for other uses, ranging from Lyme disease to alcoholism to opioid addiction. As is often the case, enthusiasm and marketing have gotten ahead of the evidence. Ketamine is used in emergencies to provide short-term procedural sedation and rapid sequence intubation.
Treatment for Ketamine Abuse
An overdose of ketamine can cause unconsciousness or slowed breathing, which is very dangerous. Different amounts of ketamine will give different “highs.” A medicinal dose is usually around 1 to 2 milligrams for each kilogram of body weight. In general, injecting, snorting or smoking a drug is more likely to cause serious side effects than swallowing the same dose of the drug.
Dosing varies according to the desired effect, the patient’s age, and underlying conditions. An average dose of 2 mg/kg (1 mg/lb) is typically needed to induce around 5 to 10 minutes of anesthesia or dissociative effects. The onset of action occurs within approximately 10 to 30 seconds, while the duration of action lasts about 5 to 15 minutes. Ketamine hydrochloride, commonly known as ketamine, is a medication approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a general anesthetic either on its own or in combination with other medications.
Ketamine for Addiction: What to Know
- Indeed, reforms are needed in the overall drug-testing model, changes that focus on what happens to the body and brain, holistically, over time (think Ozempic).
- Frequent use also may eventually cause ketamine-induced ulcerative cystitis and contracted bladder, dubbed ketamine bladder syndrome.
- More recently, it has been used off-label as a rapid antidepressant for adults with acute suicidality, treatment-resistant depression (TRD), anxiety, and other mental health conditions (Johnston, et al, 2024).
- Because ketamine withdrawal does not generally involve physical symptoms, it is often possible to stop drug use altogether without tapering the dose.
Like other substance abuse treatments, behavioral therapies and support groups may provide further treatment assistance for ketamine addiction. To learn more about the treatment process, read our Ketamine rehabilitation guide, which provides a comprehensive resource for starting this process. Long-term ketamine users may develop a craving for the drug, leading to dependence and addiction. The risk for overdose is high for recreational users, especially as they develop a tolerance and begin increasing their dosage.
Ketamine addiction in the long-term
Aftercare and Ongoing Support
- Other types of hallucinogen abuse are also common in these environments.
- Ongoing research explores the potential applications of ketamine in psychiatry across all isomeric forms.
- However, those who abuse ketamine for its dissociative effects can become addicted to those sensations, and develop a psychological addiction to the drug.
