Depression is one of the most common mental health challenges in the United States today. However, while depression can be severe and debilitating, there is an abundance of evidence-based depression treatment options that can help people overcome their symptoms and achieve recovery.

Ketamine therapy and antidepressant medication are two effective options, but they take a very different approach to helping people break free from depression. Deciding between ketamine therapy vs. traditional antidepressants involves considering what you think you need to recover, what your previous treatment experiences have been, and how you want to approach depression recovery.

Understanding Depression

Depression isn’t just feeling sad. It’s a serious mental health condition that can lead to devastating effects in your daily life, from debilitating mental health symptoms to physical complications.

Further, depression typically lasts for an extended period of time. The diagnostic cutoff for major depressive disorder, the most common type of depression, is experiencing disruptive symptoms almost every day for at least two weeks. Other forms of depression can last months or years if left untreated.

Despite these debilitating effects, many people don’t get the mental health treatment they need to achieve recovery. This is due to a number of reasons, including:

  • Stigma against mental health treatment
  • Cultural beliefs or norms
  • Doubts about the effectiveness of treatment
  • A feeling of self-reliance or desire to get through it on your own

Left untreated, depression can greatly disrupt your quality of life. Finding treatment from trained mental health professionals is the best course of action for resolving your symptoms and getting back to feeling your best.

Causes of Depression

There are a number of different factors that can increase your risk of developing depression. Depression is partly genetic, partly biological, and partly environmental, and each aspect plays a role in determining your mental health status.

Some of the more notable contributing factors of depression include:

  • Genetic Factors: People with a family history of depression may have genes passed down that increase their risk of developing depression themselves
  • Biological Factors: Differences in brain chemistry, imbalances in hormones, or medical illness can all contribute to the development of depression
  • Psychological Factors: Being exposed to chronic stress, trauma, or abuse can increase an individual’s risk of depression
  • Environmental Factors: Financial insecurity, lack of a strong social support network, or drug and alcohol use can contribute to depression risk

Any one of these factors can act as a trigger, sparking a depressive episode that’s difficult to break free from on your own.

Symptoms of Depression

While there are several different types of depression, most types share a core set of symptoms that determine whether a person meets the clinical threshold for a mental health disorder. Common symptoms of depression include:

  • Sleep difficulties, including either insomnia or hypersomnia
  • Lack of motivation
  • Loss of interest in hobbies or activities
  • Perpetual feelings of sadness or hopelessness
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Inability to experience positive emotions
  • Suicidal thoughts or attempts

These symptoms can last weeks, months, or years. While the symptoms of depression are typically internal, they can create a ripple effect throughout every area of your life, affecting your job, your relationships, and your physical health.

Depression Treatment Options

Thankfully, there are a number of effective depression treatment options that can help people overcome these challenges and achieve a lasting recovery. Some of the most common interventions to treat depression include:

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy
  • Dialectical behavior therapy
  • Psychiatric medication management
  • Group therapy
  • Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation
  • Ketamine-assisted therapy

All of these treatment options have substantial support from academic literature in helping people overcome their depression symptoms and live healthier, more productive lives.

Of these treatment options, ketamine-assisted therapy is often the one that clients are most unfamiliar with. Many people wonder what the difference is between ketamine therapy vs. traditional antidepressants. Both treatments involve a specific medication treatment, though the way they help is vastly different.

Ketamine Therapy vs. Traditional Antidepressants

When comparing ketamine therapy vs. traditional antidepressants, it’s important to understand that each has its own unique role in the mental health treatment process. One is not necessarily better than the other; instead, each takes a different approach to helping people deal with depression symptoms and ultimately find recovery.

To better understand the differences between ketamine therapy vs. traditional antidepressants, it can be beneficial to look at each treatment in turn and how they help people achieve lasting recovery from depression.

Ketamine Therapy for Depression

Ketamine therapy is a unique and innovative approach to helping people with several common mental health challenges. The core component of ketamine therapy is the use of the medication ketamine itself, which belongs to a class of drugs known as dissociative psychedelics.

History of Ketamine

Ketamine has been used in the medical field for decades. When this medication was first synthesized, it was primarily used as a form of anesthesia. Large doses of ketamine can sedate people without causing large cardiac risks, making it an attractive option for surgeons, dentists, and even veterinarians.

As more modern anesthetics have reached the market, ketamine has largely been replaced in medicine, though it is still commonly used by pediatric surgeons and veterinarians.

But during the time when ketamine was still being widely used for anesthesia, physicians noticed that patients with severe depression often awoke from surgery feeling much better, which sparked the initial interest in ketamine as a mental health treatment.

Ketamine-Assisted Therapy

Today, ketamine-assisted therapy is an integrated model of treatment that uses ketamine in combination with talk therapy. Clients who attend ketamine treatment take a subanesthetic dose of ketamine, meaning they are awake for the entire experience, and sit with a therapist to discuss their experience, address mental health challenges, and focus on the work of recovery.

The dissociative effects of ketamine play a large role in its mental health effects. Dissociation means disconnecting from your sense of self and from the world around you. This can be incredibly powerful in depression treatment, as it allows people to look at their problems objectively, without symptoms of depression coloring their perspective.

There are direct effects of ketamine on depression as well. Several studies have shown that a single dose of ketamine can dramatically reduce depression symptoms, even without the added benefit of talking with a therapist.

At Plus by APN, our ketamine-assisted therapy programs are delivered in carefully controlled environments with a skilled team of medical and mental health professionals. Working with a therapist through the ketamine process adds an extra layer of security and comfort and can help clients make lasting changes that improve their depression symptoms for years to come.

While most people see benefits from just a single session of ketamine-assisted therapy, repeated sessions can further enhance your progress and solidify your recovery.

Benefits

Some of the key benefits of ketamine-assisted therapy include:

  • Rapid reductions in depression symptoms
  • Long-lasting results
  • No need to take medication daily
  • Enhanced mental health improvements from repeated sessions

These benefits make ketamine-assisted therapy an ideal choice for people with treatment-resistant depression who have tried other treatments without success, or those who are looking for fast symptom improvement.

Drawbacks

No depression treatment is free from potential drawbacks or side effects. Some reasons that people may choose an option other than ketamine-assisted treatment include:

The ketamine experience itself can be disorienting

While treatment only takes approximately two hours, you may not be able to drive or go to other appointments temporarily following treatment

There is some risk of experiencing medication side effects during treatment

At Plus by APN, our team works to mitigate these concerns as much as possible. We always have a medical and mental health team present during the treatment process to help guide people through any potential side effects they experience.

Traditional Antidepressants

Antidepressant medication has long been the gold standard of mental health treatment for depression. There are an abundance of different depression medications available, including options such as:

  • Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs): Fluoxetine (Prozac), citalopram (Celexa), paroxetine (Paxil), and escitalopram (Lexapro)
  • Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs): Venlafaxine (Effexor), duloxetine (Cymbalta), or desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)
  • Atypical Antidepressants: Bupropion (Wellbutrin), vortioxetine (Trintellix), or trazodone
  • Tricyclic Antidepressants: Amitriptyline, doxepin and desipramine (Norpramin), or imipramine

Each of these medications functions differently, but they all target specific neurotransmitters that have been associated with depression. Typically, they focus on the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, or norepinephrine.

By regulating these neurotransmitters, people can find substantial relief from their symptoms with just a single medication.

Benefits

There are many reasons that people turn to traditional antidepressants as their depression treatment method of choice. Some of the key benefits include:

  • Ease of Use: Simply take your prescription once or twice a day, and you can start experiencing symptom relief
  • A Multitude of Options: If your first medication approach doesn’t provide results, there are several other options available
  • Tangible Symptom Relief: Finding the right medication can provide life-changing results

With Plus by APN, meeting with a psychiatrist for medication management can help you discover the medications that work best for you and get you started on your mental health recovery without delay.

Drawbacks

As effective as traditional antidepressants are, they can have drawbacks that discourage people from seeking them out as their primary treatment option. Potential drawbacks of traditional antidepressants include:

  • Side Effects: Many depression medications cause unwanted side effects, such as a lowered sex drive, that deter people from taking them
  • Time to See Results: Due to the way most antidepressants work, it often takes over a month for people to start feeling significant improvement
  • Medication Interactions: Certain medications may interact negatively with others, so it’s important to ensure your medications are safe to take together

Many of these drawbacks depend on the specific antidepressant medication you’re prescribed. Working with a psychiatrist can help you try different treatment options and find what works best for you.

Ketamine Therapy vs. Traditional Antidepressants: Which Is Best for You?

When it comes to treating depression, the best treatment is the one that you’re willing to participate in. If ketamine-assisted treatment seems like it’s the better fit for you, you’re more likely to achieve the results you’re looking for. On the other hand, if you prefer a more conventional approach, there is abundant evidence that traditional antidepressants can help you overcome your symptoms.

Keep in mind that you’re not locked into any single treatment option. You can often use multiple mental health treatments simultaneously, or switch to a different approach if you don’t get the results you wanted straight away. Keep the course, and you’ll start to reap the benefits of recovery.

Start Depression Treatment With Plus by APN Today

At Plus by APN, we believe in offering our clients a comprehensive suite of mental health services. From traditional approaches such as talk therapy and medication to innovative and exciting options such as ketamine-assisted therapy and deep transcranial magnetic stimulation, our skilled team has the tools you need to overcome depression once and for all. Contact us at 424.644.6486 or complete our online contact form to get started today.

References

  • Alexandrine Corriger & Gisèle Pickering (2019) Ketamine and depression: a narrative review, Drug Design, Development and Therapy, , 3051-3067, DOI: 10.2147/ DDDT.S221437
  • “Depression Treatments for Adults.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/depression-guideline/adults. Accessed 12 Aug. 2024.