How Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Improves Healing Through Neuroplasticity

Mental health disorders and trauma both create changes in the brain that impact how a person feels daily. Due to these changes, individuals struggling with mental health disorders and/or trauma often struggle with daily tasks, negatively affecting their quality of life. Fortunately, ketamine-assisted therapy can help. By utilizing neuroplasticity concepts, ketamine-assisted therapy helps individuals to heal from trauma, depression, alcohol dependency, and substance dependency. Mental health treatment at Corner Canyon Health Centers offers ketamine-assisted therapy as one option to help boost neuroplasticity and build long-term changes that help individuals feel better and function well. 

Neuroplasticity: The Basics

For many years it was believed that the brain stopped developing and changing when people matured into adulthood. However, neuroplasticity is the understanding that the nervous system can and will reorganize its structure, function, and connections based on both internal and external stimuli. 

The changes that occur in the brain can result in negative, neutral, or positive impacts on a person’s life. For example, having a traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes changes in the brain. However, these changes frequently decrease mental health and overall quality of life. Alternatively, therapeutic modalities like ketamine-assisted therapy help individuals to make changes that improve their mental health. 

Ketamine-Assisted Therapy

Currently, ketamine is a drug used to treat substance use disorders (SUDs), mental health, and trauma. Ketamine is a drug that causes dissociation or disconnection from reality. It does so by impacting receptors in the brain. 

Ketamine-assisted therapy uses ketamine as a part of the healing process. At Corner Canyon Health Centers, this ketamine is administered as sublingual lozenges. However, these lozenges are only part of the process. Psychotherapy is also used to work through patterns and symptoms with a counselor who helps individuals process and make necessary changes. 

The specifics of dosage and timing of psychotherapy vary for each person. At Corner Canyon Health Centers, the goal is to find the right combination of psychotherapy and ketamine administration to help individuals heal. 

Making Changes in the Brain With Ketamine-Assisted Therapy

As a drug, ketamine impacts the brain. In doing so, ketamine can assist a person in making changes that have been resistant to other therapeutic modalities. For example, many individuals with treatment-resistant depression have a decrease in symptoms with the use of ketamine as a part of treatment. 

Improving Neuroplasticity

One of the primary reasons that ketamine-assisted therapy is so effective is that it improves neuroplasticity. As part of the drug’s mechanism in the brain, ketamine helps to provide the brain with an increased ability to change. It is believed that this is due to ketamine’s impact on the communication between nerves, which serve as an important piece of the patterns in the brain. 

Increasing a person’s ability to make changes in the brain is important in mental health treatment. Especially if an individual is struggling with a treatment-resistant mental health disorder or trauma; this is because many individuals feel stuck in patterns that are not helping them. A person may know that they should make a change but feel like they cannot take the necessary steps to do so. This can include emotions, thoughts, or actions that impact mental health. 

However, increased neuroplasticity can also cause problems. As a result, it is important that individuals work with qualified mental health treatment centers like Corner Canyon Health Centers. In doing so, individuals help to ensure that ketamine is used as a way to enhance treatment. Remember, changes in the brain can cause increases or decreases in mental health symptoms. Ketamine-assisted therapy ensures that ketamine helps to decrease symptoms. 

Ketamine-Assisted Therapy at Corner Canyon

As a drug, ketamine is used for many reasons. It helps individuals to heal from trauma or mental health disorders like treatment-resistant depression. However, it is commonly used in a spiritual or existential crisis or growth. At Corner Canyon, ketamine-assisted therapy is used as a piece of mental health treatment. It both enhances and improves the overall treatment of clients. 

Corner Canyon Health Centers understand that ketamine impacts the brain by improving neuroplasticity. In doing so, it helps individuals make changes that before felt impossible. However, by taking a dose of ketamine as a part of a treatment program, clients are also protected. After treatment, clients are closely measured. This ensures that they are safe both physically, mentally, and emotionally. With guidance and support, ketamine helps individuals to take big steps toward healing.

Ketamine is also available for use at home through Corner Canyons treatment programs. Each session is closely guided, providing clients with specific instructions on ketamine use. While ketamine is taken at home, treatment still incorporates psychotherapy and check-ins. These help ensure that clients are taking ketamine as part of a holistic program that treats their unique symptoms. 

Neuroplasticity is an important concept and foundation of many mental health treatments, including ketamine-assisted therapy. At Corner Canyon Health Centers, we understand that impacting the root causes of a person’s symptoms is important. This is why we offer treatments that help facilitate changes in the brain. In doing so, we can help our clients learn new patterns that play an important role in minimizing symptoms and healing. We offer ketamine-assisted therapy both in our treatment facility and as a part of our outpatient treatment program. If you or someone you love is struggling with mental health symptoms or trauma that just won’t change, we can help. Call us today at (877) 717-6237 to learn more about ketamine-assisted therapy.