by Aya Gonzalez
Nov 22, 2021Ketamine is a synthetic pharmaceutical compound classified as a dissociative anesthetic. It is a widely used medication and is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines. It was developed in 1963, approved for use in 1970, and adopted by many jurisdictions because of its rapid onset, proven safety, and short duration of action.
Ketamine is most commonly used as an anesthetic agent in surgical and emergency department settings due to its good safety profile. It has also been utilized successfully in managing acute and chronic pain conditions due to its analgesic properties.
While ketamine is known to be used recreationally as a street drug outside of medical applications, its use in this context is unrelated to medical and therapeutic use, which has been shown to be safe and associated with positive outcomes.
In the last two decades, ketamine has been increasingly clinically applied at subanesthetic doses as an off-label treatment for various chronic treatment-resistant mental health conditions, such as depression, substance use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other mental health diagnoses. If you have any questions or concerns about ketamine itself, don’t hesitate to inquire with the Numinus medical team about it during the screening process.
