Ketamine Holds Promise for OCD

At Balance Ketamine Clinic in Chicago we use Ketamine usually for severe depression.  However, it also appears to be effective in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Ketamine has brought hope to a psychiatric field desperate to find new treatments for severe OCD, a chronic condition marked by debilitating obsessions and repetitive behaviors. Current treatments, which include antidepressants such as Prozac, can take months to have any effect on the disease, if they work at all.

Ketamine is exciting because it works in a way different from traditional antidepressants.

It was just 6 years ago, that Dr. Carolyn Rodriguez and colleagues published their results from that first clinical trial of ketamine in OCD patients.  In those patients who were given ketamine, the effect was immediate. Patients reported dramatic decreases in their obsessive-compulsive symptoms midway through the 40-minute infusion, according to the study. The diminished symptoms lasted throughout the following week in half of the patients. Most striking were comments by the patients quoted in the study: “I tried to have OCD thoughts, but I couldn’t,” said one. Another said, “I feel as if the weight of OCD has been lifted.” A third said, “I don’t have any intrusive thoughts. ... This is amazing, unbelievable. This is right out of a movie.” And while nearly all initially had dissociative effects like feelings of unreality, distortions of time or hallucinations, they were gone within two hours after the start of the infusion.  In some cases, patient’s OCD symptoms disappeared immediately and were still gone for two weeks after.

Medical insurance companies usually cover ketamine’s FDA-approved use as an anesthetic but won’t cover its use for other purposes, such as mental health disorders.  At Balance Ketamine Clinics in Chicago, our mission is to make this revolutionary treatment accessible to everyone.

So click or call to set up an evaluation today.