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Once used solely as an anesthetic, ketamine has become widely recognized as a valuable tool for managing treatment-resistant mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
But what many people don’t know is that in addition to providing symptom relief, ketamine infusions may also help improve distorted thinking, a common side effect of emotional health issues.
Peter McAllister, MD, FAAN, and the team at Ki_Ketamine offer ketamine infusion therapy for people with treatment-resistant mental health conditions, providing fast relief from acute symptoms while supporting better long-term wellness. In this post, learn how ketamine works to promote better cognitive health and function.
Cognitive function and mental health
Cognitive function includes all of the brain-based skills you use to learn, pay attention, memorize, make decisions, process information, reason logically, and solve problems. These activities happen more or less automatically, but underlying medical issues can affect them.
Concussions, dementia, and neurodegenerative diseases can trigger chemical and neurological changes that in turn can lead to cognitive difficulties. Even hormonal changes during midlife can cause some degree of “brain fog.” Interestingly, mental health issues, including disorders like depression and anxiety, can take a toll on cognitive function, too.
Mental health conditions alter your levels of neurotransmitters, chemical messengers that help manage and stabilize your mood. As the levels of these chemicals decline, mood disorders become more common and more pervasive.
As it turns out, these same chemicals also play key roles in cognitive functioning. When chemical levels decline, you can wind up with cognitive dysfunction in addition to the specific symptoms of your mood disorder.
In fact, data show that people with depression, anxiety, and other emotional health issues are far more likely to struggle with cognitive problems, too. At the same time, cognitive issues make it much harder to manage the underlying emotional health problem, creating a cycle that can be hard to break.
Ketamine and cognitive function
One of the key ways ketamine helps improve cognitive function is by supporting neuroplasticity, the process the brain uses to form new nerve-to-nerve connections and pathways. Ketamine increases the brain’s supply of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that triggers neuron growth, helping improve cognitive functions like memory and learning.
Ketamine also acts on chemical messengers, specifically the neurotransmitter glutamate. This key chemical optimizes communication between neurons, potentially improving cognitive functions like thought processing and problem solving.
In addition, ketamine supports a process called synaptogenesis. Synapses are the junctions between neurons that allow chemical messages to pass among nerve cells with ease. Ketamine improves the health and number of these junctions for optimal communication, setting the stage for improved cognitive functioning.
Learn more about ketamine therapy
Ketamine therapy offers a real solution for people suffering from depression and other mental health disorders, including patients who haven’t responded to other treatments. If you’re struggling with “brain fog” or other cognitive issues related to a mental health condition, ketamine could be the solution you’ve been looking for.
To learn more about ketamine therapy and how it could help improve your health and your quality of life, request an appointment online or over the phone today with the team at Ki_Ketamine in Stamford and Westport, Connecticut.