Does depression run families?
I didn’t ask if it runs in families. Does it run your family?
Well, let me ask you this. Do you love someone who’s depressed … ?
I mean really depressed. Someone who’s been withdrawn, listless, drained, and nervous for months — or years… Maybe you hear how they wish they could die. Maybe you hear that often.
Have you helped your son, daughter, or spouse get to the doctor for treatment? It was hard for them to even just get out of bed, I bet. Really hard.
They grumbled … maybe slung harsh words at the obstacle of waking up, of getting out of bed. If they did, you probably felt annoyed with the abusive language, but you also knew their struggle was gargantuan. And you knew better than to say anything.
At the doctor, maybe you listened as they described how they felt. If they even let you in. They probably didn’t have much to say. Too shut down … or too angry.
When Treatment Doesn’t Help
After years of doctor visits, years of trying new medications one after the other … then 2 or 3 in combination … maybe none helped very much or for very long. Years of watching her — or him — stop taking meds because “they don’t work anyway.” You’ve likely fought your own despair about ever finding any real help for them.
You’ve probably wondered just how long one person can endure such hopelessness. And, if you’re human, you may have even secretly wished there was somewhere you could go for a vacation from it just to get away for a little while. But you put that secret thought aside, because what’s most important is finding relief for your son or your daughter or your spouse … or your sister … or your Mom.
Depression is a Problem of the Family – Not Just the Patient
You’ve watched phobias take over. Fear of answering the phone. Of going outside. Fear of driving and fear of crowded places. Even fear of eating.
It’s one thing to watch someone you love in pain for a day or a week. But when the years come and go and you’d give 
anything to see her enjoy herself, even for a little while … it becomes terribly hard to bear. Or to take her to dinner for her birthday and see that frozen look of dread in her face.
Searching the World for Someone Who Can Help
So you’ve researched, asked doctors and friends, read articles, scanned the internet, to find that one program, residential treatment, or miracle drug that could lift the lead blanket from the life of this one you love so much.
But…after a while, they all seem the same. Nothing seems to make a difference.
Then, you dig deeper. You see her desperation, and you worry about suicide risk, so you pull out the stops. She doesn’t want to hear about any more promises, so you subtly take sugar out of her diet…and dyes… plus salt… and add a plethora of nutrients like folate, vitamins, and anything else you read on the web.
Breakthrough Possibilities
You learn about new medications that are creating breakthroughs for others. But she says, “NO.” She’s jaded, has lost her confidence in treatment. She’s sullen and disillusioned. She’s tired.
Then one day, you’re sitting in the doctor’s waiting room with her, and you pick up a magazine. It says something about ketamine…for depression…
Hmmmm. Ketamine. Why does that ring a bell…? You think you’ve heard about it in the context of surgery. What was that? Something that helped a patient breathe…? No… You read the article…and your head explodes.
An anesthetic…? A street drug…? What on earth.
You get online and find out there have been all sorts of articles and studies written about this for years but you never noticed them. But now with determination, you start Googling.
Researching the Breakthrough
The scientific articles are too hard to understand, but you discover articles written about the science. In everyday language. You read and take notes. Read and take notes. Read more and take more notes.
And it dawns on you this is something you haven’t tried. And instead of just a third of patients finding some sort of help, you’re reading about 75-80% of patients not just getting help, but getting better. Symptom free. Really better.
(***If you’re reading this, and you haven’t shared the yoke with a beloved spouse or child who’s, this all may sound ludicrous to you. “…Hey, aren’t you just a little over-invested there…?”)
Depression is a problem of the family…
A serious chronic disease impacts the entire family. It’s not only the ill person who suffers. The symptoms affect 
everyone. Family gatherings are overshadowed by your family member’s reluctance to enter in, or to leave the house. Everyone carries the ache of this one’s suffering sadness. Everyone feels helpless — powerless — to offer relief.
Mood Disorders – Serious, Crippling Illnesses
Depression, specifically Major Depressive Disorder, is not a bad attitude, or laziness. It’s an illness caused by changes in brain structures and function. And depression is just one mood disorder. There are so many others just as crippling. OCD, PTSD, bipolar disorder, other anxiety disorders…
About 1/3 of depressed people are successfully treated by traditional antidepressants. For them, depression is treatable, and they’re able to live their lives in a meaningful way.
For another 1/3 who weren’t helped by their first round of antidepressants, a new medication or a combination “cocktail” of meds turns out to be effective.
But what about that other one-third?
The World Health Organization estimates 350 million people worldwide are depressed. That means 116 million people in the world are suffering all the pain of depression along with the anxiety that accompanies it, without help or relief. That’s more than 3 times the population of Tokyo, the largest city on earth. And for every person in that list, a family suffers with him.
Their loved one remains weighted by the lead blanket of depression and anxiety. Phobias, withdrawl, poor functioning socially and professionally, and despair. And their risk for suicide grows with every month, every year, they continue to suffer.
Until now.
Ketamine Relieves the Family by Making the Patient Better
Now there is, for the first time in the history of psychiatry, a medication that can stop suicidal thoughts within hours. Since suicidal thinking — and planning — often create an emergent situation needing life-saving intervention, time is of the essence.
And it’s safe.
Ketamine hydrochloride is a compound that was FDA-approved for anesthesia in 1964. It’s proven itself to be an 
effective and useful anesthesia medication for surgery and for managing pain in emergency situations for 50 years. Ketamine has also demonstrated its safety when used in appropriate doses for children, adolescents, and adults.
It was even included in the List of Essential Medications by the World Health Organization.
It’s demonstrated its safety as an anesthetic in all age groups for 50 years. In the last 15 years it has also emerged as an extraordinary drug for stopping suicidal thinking, and in treating many forms of depression and anxiety. Specifically, treatment-resistant mood disorders.
Ketamine has been proving itself in laboratories, studies, and private practices across the US and around the world as a rapid and robust antidepressant, when used in the tiny doses required for treatment of mood disorders.
WARNING: Use of Ketamine to Self-Medicate is DANGEROUS
While it’s true that ketamine, known on the street as Special K, has been abused and passed on the street as a hallucinogenic way to get high, the doses people in the drug scene use for tripping are much, much higher than the dose administered by psychiatrists in precise therapeutic infusions.
And those who abuse ketamine on the street use large doses, massive doses…and way, way too often. And…they can suffer serious side effects in the form of damage to their bodies that are irreversible. Like bleeding ulcers inside the bladder, kidney failure. Death.
Depression is a problem of the family, not just the patient.
We know that families need relief along with their loved one who suffers.
If you and your family have been prisoners in the war against major depression and anxiety, ketamine treatment for your family member can restore the rest of your family.
Ketamine Relieves Stress in the Family Caused by Psychiatric Mood Disorders
At Innovative Psychiatry, we’re dedicated to finding treatment for the sickest of the sick. Those who’ve trudged and
bowed under the tyranny of psychiatric mood disorders. While we can’t accept more patients who need general psychiatric care, (we’re full!), we do want to talk to you if you’ve tried two or more medications or treatment combinations without success.
If treatment has been failing you up till now, call us. Helping people like you is our specialty.
Let’s schedule an appointment to determine whether you’re a good candidate for ketamine. While ketamine isn’t for everyone, it’s remarkably effective for 80% of people who have been failed by other traditional treatments.
And chances are it could be just what you need to restore your life — so you can enjoy meaning, productivity, and relationships you haven’t been able to for a long time.
To the emergence of your best self,
Lori Calabrese, M.D.
