Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after someone has experienced or witnessed a traumatic event including early childhood trauma. The symptoms of PTSD can be debilitating and include flashbacks, nightmares, trouble sleeping, irritability, hypervigilance, and avoidance of people or places that remind the individual of the trauma.
What Causes PTSD?
PTSD is usually caused by going through (or occasionally, witnessing) a traumatic event that threatens serious injury or death. Medical science still can't completely explain why people develop PTSD, but research indicates it may be a complicated mix of:
Stressful, trauma induced experiences
Family history of mental health disorders
Temperament
How your brain is regulating the hormones and chemicals in your body in response to stress
What Are The Symptoms Of PTSD?
The symptoms of PTSD generally start within a month of the original traumatic event, but in some cases may not appear until even years after the event. The symptoms tend to cause problems at school or work and in personal relationships, and also interfere with your daily life.
There are generally four types of PTSD symptoms: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative moods, and changes in physical and emotional reactions. Symptoms may vary from time to time or person to person.
How Does Ketamine Help Treat PTSD?
A circuit in the brain involved with resilience as well as resistance to stress can be activated by ketamine. Research has indicated that ketamine can block NMDA-glutamate receptors in the brain. Glutamate is a primary neurotransmitter and has a big effect on many regions of the nervous system. Overactivation of this particular neurotransmitter can cause depressive symptoms. When ketamine blocks this neurotransmitter, it helps ease depression by recovering the balance in the glutamate neurotransmission pathway. Ketamine may also work by stimulating the regrowth of specific neurological connections.
WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN??? Relief of symptoms and an opportunity to finally quiet the chaos in your brain.
As a clinician, I integrate alternative modalities of treatment into my work with clients. I focus on embodied techniques to support integrative health in mind, body, heart and spirit.
I support psychedelic assisted therapy research with the intention to bring these types of interventions back into the Western mainstream model. I believe that individual and collective healing are intimately intertwined. I am an activist and an advocate for a safer, more integrated world, am passionate about engaging with individuals/groups to create systemic healing and returning to the goodness that exists in all beings.