Elon Musk Advocates for Ketamine

A recent interview with Elon Musk has put ketamine therapy in the spotlight. On March 8, 2024 the Tesla CEO talked to former CNN journalist Don Lemon about, among other things, Musk’s use of therapeutic ketamine.

During the hour-long interview, Musk explains his use of ketamine, saying that it helps him avoid a “negative chemical mind state.” He went on to say that he has a physician’s prescription and uses the drug once every two weeks.

Conversely, this was not the first time that Musk mentioned his therapeutic ketamine use. On August 4th, 2023, he mentioned his prescription, saying it can calm him when his “brain chemistry sometimes goes super negative.”

Musk also expresses “serious concerns” over alternative medications, saying that they “tend to zombify people.”2 During the interview, he also suggests that ketamine helps him be a better leader, adding, “Tesla is worth about as much as the rest of the car industry combined, from nothing. From an investor’s standpoint, if there is something I’m taking, I should keep taking it.”

Ketamine Therapy Near Me

If you or a loved one struggle with depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, ketamine could offer a new treatment strategy. Our compassionate specialists are trained in Emotion-Focused Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy to help you improve your mental health. To explore your options, please contact us at one of our two locations in Salt Lake City, UT, and West Jordan, UT.

What is Ketamine

Interestingly, ketamine has a long history as a medicinal drug, beginning in the 1960s. Since the ’60s, doctors use ketamine as an anesthetic in surgical centers, veterinary clinics, and emergency rooms. Eventually, doctors discovered that surgery patients suffering from depression reported feeling a reduction in depressive symptoms after receiving ketamine as an anesthetic.

Ketamine is also known as a dissociative drug, possibly explaining its effectiveness in treating mental health. Using ketamine allows patients to dissociate from harmful thought patterns.

Unfortunately, many people may not realize the healthcare potential of ketamine-based therapy. This lack of information may be due to various reasons, including difficulty of access in some regions. Furthermore, there may be a stigma around ketamine because it is commonly used as a recreational drug since the 1990s.

What Causes Mental Health Disorders

Mental health problems are among the most challenging to treat effectively because these conditions have many potential causes. In addition, these causes are complex and diverse.

Yet, despite what might be portrayed in popular media, the reality may not be as clear-cut as saying that depression results from a lack of certain “feel-good chemicals.” Instead, mood regulation processes may not work correctly in the brain.

Plus, depression and other mental illnesses can have numerous different causes, such as a genetic risk. Other people may experience depression due to traumatic life events, such as the death of a loved one. As a result, effectively treating mental health conditions requires new and innovative methods. Such methods are best employed by compassionate professionals trained in numerous, diverse modalities.

Ketamine Therapy Benefits

Two decades of Yale studies testify to the value of ketamine as a treatment. In a number of Yale studies, when patients with severe depression receive intravenous (in the vein) ketamine, over half of them show a significant reduction in depression symptoms within 24 hours.

Ketamine is also uniquely beneficial because it is able to produce positive effects for those struggling with treatment-resistant depression. These patients are not able to make any progress with other antidepressant medications until ketamine therapy was used. Furthermore, ketamine is being used more and more by those who keep society running, including business leaders and the always indispensable police force.

Although, it’s worth noting that clinicians recommend pairing ketamine with other mental health practices, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a form of psychotherapy. CBT by itself is not a pharmacological treatment, but can offer social and emotional support to help patients develop more positive mind states.³

How Does Ketamine Therapy Work

Yale research shows how ketamine helps patients. According to research, ketamine affects glutamate, which is a neurotransmitter or “chemical messenger.” Accordingly, a shortage of glutamate in the brain is linked with depressive conditions. Ketamine appears to boost glutamate, which eventually helps create more connections in the brain. As a result, these neural connections, or pathways, can lead to more positive thought patterns.

Ketamine may owe its effectiveness, at least partially, due to the fact that it affects glutamate in the brain. Other drugs work by targeting other brain chemicals that have been linked with mental health issues. As examples, these chemicals include dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.

Further to that, ketamine exerts its effects by blocking activity in a brain receptor called N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA). This brain receptor is involved with various functions, including mood regulation and pain perception.

Ketamine Results

Ketamine can quickly relieve the symptoms of depression and many other mental health issues. It is much faster-acting than other medications, working in hours instead of weeks or months.”4

Because of this, many see ketamine as an invaluable potential alternative to other drugs used for mental health. Some, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), may cause side effects like a loss of appetite or problems with sexual function.

Ketamine is used to treat many conditions, including the following:

Depression
Treatment-Resistant Depression
Anxiety
Bipolar Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Postpartum Depression
Sexual Abuse Trauma
Chronic Pain
Fibromyalgia
Lyme Disease
Migraines

And More

Celebrities who use Ketamine

Numerous celebrities benefite from ketamine therapy. Find out what they have to say below:

Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen recently spent her birthday enjoying various activities, including a gathering with friends and fancy meals. She also tried a not-so-conventional activity on her special day, engaging in a session of ketamine therapy. After trying this mental health therapy, Teigen said she saw many things, including “space and time.”5

Lamar Odom

Former NBA champion Lamar Odom says ketamine helps him treat drug addiction. Ketamine therapy gave Odom a new lease on life. He says, “I’m feeling amazing… I’m alive. I’m sober. I’m happy.”

Sharon Osbourne

Ketamine also helps Sharon Osbourne overcome some mental hurdles and find peace. Osbourne described the therapy, saying, “I got it all out.” She continued, “All the tears and everything that I felt, you know. All of that, it’s gone.”

Tyler Baltierra

Tyler Baltierra, from Teen Mom, helped make ketamine more publicly known. He shared his therapy with the show’s audience in 2023, taking MTV viewers into the treatment room.

Baltierra spoke to Yahoo Life about his feelings: “Doing it was a little bit scary at first, to be honest, but I was ready for a deep dive, especially doing it with a therapist and medical professionals involved. Ketamine is a pretty sedating experience. Having done that recreationally and having a lot of enlightenment with that, I felt like this was the best route to really get to the core of the issues I’ve had.”

Ketamine Therapy in Utah/Ketamine Therapy Near Me

Depression, anxiety, and other negative mental states can make it impossible to live your life and enjoy your favorite activities. But our team is trained in multiple treatment methods and here to help.

If you’d like to explore the benefits of ketamine therapy, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at one of our practices in Salt Lake City, UT, West Jordan, UT and Pleasant Grove, UT.

Sources:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1687663413877714944

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-don-lemon-interview-x-ketamine-use-tesla/

https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/ketamine-depression

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-ketamine-relieves-symptoms-depression

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/chrissy-teigen-said-ketamine-therapy-210311377.html

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