In the last 2 decades, something began to emerge as a surprising treatment for emotional type pain and distress. It was developed and approved for anaesthesia around 1970. Over 25 years later… it began to show its hidden ability. The power to relieve feeling down and other types of mood in a dynamic way. Cognitive dissonance, distortions and unhelpful thinking styles like; rumination and catastrophising respond to this extraordinary treatment modality. Perhaps the most remarkable of all is, that it can erase suicidal thinking in a few short hours.
Mental Health researchers tested low doses of this dissociative anaesthetic with trepidation 20 years ago. Each study built upon the last. Their work revealed more insights about what causes stressed, depressed, sleep disturbed states with altered unhelpful thinking, and how to treat it effectively (and how, sometimes it's due to glial mediated immunological and neuroplasticity disturbances). Never before have 2 small sticky molecules (R/S) worked together to help relieve symptoms of psychological distress in such a wide variety of chronically stressed people.
It works in multiple areas and systems of the brain. It improves the function of mechanisms that have been impaired by the stress of depression and anxiety. It helps the G proteins that collect on lipid rafts in the cell membrane slide to off. This equips them to do their job enhancing signal transmission.
It activates the mRNA switch which turns on production of brain-derived-neurotrophic-factor (BDNF). BDNF causes synapse connections between neurons to proliferate in turbo mode, transforming and replenishing the connections between brain cells around the brain, lighting it up with information, cognition, creativity, and insight.
There’s more that it accomplishes, like tamping down the cell bursting in the lateral habenula so that you can experience the reward of pleasant moments. It reduces glial pro-inflammatory mediators like IL-6 and TNF, delaying progression for a range of neurodegenerative conditions. There's recent suggestion that it's effects may include restoring the neurobiology of sleep and circadian rhythms. We don’t know what research will suggest next, but we look forward to more discoveries.
Treatment often results in a transformative cognitive shift. Those who have been weighed down under a heavy blanket of lethargic apathy and despair typically find they feel better following each treatment. They have the energy and motivation to dive into tasks that haven’t been faced in recent memory.
Patients with treatment-resistant conditions respond more, compared to any other traditional medicine available. It may sound odd, however, the patients most helped are those who suffer from severe disorders. With continued research, neuroscience researchers and clinicians are learning new methods of administration, to help more and more patients enjoy a rapid and robust response.
As a result, these individuals enjoy renewed hope. They express amazement at their energy for life and work, and an overall transformation in what they enjoy and can accomplish. They report a more balanced and joyful outlook, and the desire to rebuild and strengthen their relationships.
