Innovative Psychiatry
Activities and Behaviors such as sex, shopping, surfing the internet, gambling, pain-seeking, cutting, viewing or attaining pornography, eating, playing video games, exercising…
Because addiction is complex, treatment can be complex also. In these articles about addiction, you’ll find posts about how ketamine can reduce or stop craving. You may still require counseling or psychotherapy to help you change your thinking patterns that lean toward addictive behaviors. Even so, it can be an immeasurable help to not have to fight cravings in the process.
Opioids including heroin
Crack
Alcohol
Cannabis
Prescription medications
Amphetamines including Methamphetamine
Inhalants
Hallucinogens
Nicotine
Eating
Sex
Pornography
Playing video games
Shopping
Exercising
Surfing the internet
Pain Seeking
Cutting
This is not a complete list, but rather offers examples of addictions. The rule of thumb is to consider whether the use of a substance or a behavior interferes with your daily living. Does it affect your relationships at home, or socially? Does it interfere with your family life? How about your relationships with co-workers, as well as your work performance? Are any laws being broken?
Denial is the first and perhaps hardest obstacle to overcome so you can seek treatment. When you evaluate the role this substance or behavior plays in your life, the objective opinion of a close friend or family member might add objectivity and perspective.
In recent times, IV ketamine treatment has emerged as a rapid and robust treatment for depression and other psychiatric disorders. Elias Dakwar, M.D., has done exceptional work demonstrating ketamine’s ability to stop craving in addicts.
Ketamine is proving to be a dynamic tool to break the craving cycle and to enhance psychotherapy by providing neuroplasticity to support change.
Since many addictions are accompanied by depression, IV ketamine treatment can also slash the depression while reducing craving and enhancing psychotherapy.
Keep reading to learn more.
You know how a disorder – like bipolar disorder or PTSD – can make you so miserable…even make you want to self-medicate? Doing so is rarely a good idea, though it may seem at the time that it helps. But that’s for another post. Anyway, you know how self-medicating often accompanies these disorders, and […]
This is the first Monday of the New Year…so how do you start a new year? With resolutions? A diet? Maybe more exercise? Lots of people do. But what about you? What if you don’t have an appetite…? Might be hard to stick to a diet more than a couple days… and what if you […]
Tomorrow is the last day of 2019…and the day before a new year – and a new decade – begins. Let’s jump in and look back. Let’s celebrate our progress over the last year and consider the impact of new breakthroughs this year. Some of these breakthroughs in psychiatry for 2019 may surprise you. The […]
This is a time of year when we do lots of giving, don’t we? And for the most part, we receive the giving of others, too. While it’s fun to receive and get stuff, receiving doesn’t have the impact on our brain, our outlook, our health and immunity, as well as our sense of well-being, […]
This time of year conjures up visions of sugarplums, elves, and Christmas trees guarding piles of gifts. There are carolers singing on the corner, and menorahs and dreidels and flickering candle light. Families come together, and friends are invited to share in the celebrations. A manger with a Baby surrounded by angels, shepherds, and wise […]
It’s the holiday season again and there are parties every weekend, with work, with friends, with family – they crop up everywhere. Festive gift bags provided at liquor stores make it easy to present a gift of alcohol in the busy bustle of the season. For some, holiday drinking is light and rare. For others, […]
Can you believe it’s already December? We’re smack in the middle of the holidays! The last month of 2019 has begun. If this December is anything like the past, it will zoom by like a rocket. I hope your Thanksgiving was a joyful time for you. Going forward, it’s part of the tradition at this […]
Thursday is Thanksgiving, and most of us realize what a toll the holidays take on some people. But we may not understand why. Many of us have at least one loved one who is not comfortable in a family gathering at this time of year. They may be in pain, or mourning a loss, or […]
We’ve talked before about how your diet affects your microbiome, and how your microbiome affects your mood. We’ve also talked about how eating foods rich in fatty acids helps your brain function. Since we know that your eating affects your depression—we know that… and you know that—let’s talk today about how other foods impact your […]
Safety data analyzed from five NIH inpatient clinical trials. National Institutes of Health researchers found that a single, low-dose ketamine infusion was relatively free of side effects for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Elia Acevedo-Diaz, M.D., Carlos Zarate, M.D., and colleagues at the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) report their findings in the Journal of Affective […]