Let’s Talk About It: Suicide, Suicidal Thoughts, and Ketamine Therapy
Suicidal Thoughts and Feelings are Common
It’s a shocking statistic: suicide is the second leading cause of death for Americans from the age of 10 to 34. Estimates are that 30-60% of people who seek treatment for depression or suicidal thoughts don’t get relief from the best traditional medicine has to offer: antidepressants, talk therapy, or a combination of both. It’s worth noting that it’s estimated that up to 70% of people suffering never get treatment at all due to many obstacles to care.
Suicidal thoughts can be a part of depression, usually severe depression. It’s said that depression is a progressive disease, and often a lethal one. It’s hypothesized that, as depression remains untreated, the brain gets more and more damaged. This can lead to feelings of hopelessness, feeling trapped, despondent, and thinking that things can’t change. There’s also evidence that depression impairs out ability to problem-solve and break out of rigid negative thinking patterns.
Common thoughts when one is depressed and suicidal are:
I don’t want to be here anymore
I just want the pain to stop
Everyone would be better off without me
I’m a burden to those I care about
It’s never going to get better
Ketamine Therapy Rapidly Lifts People Out of Suicidal Thoughts and Feelings
Ketamine therapy is a rapid and powerful way to tackle depression and suicidal thoughts. One study found 60% of people no longer felt suicidal just one day after their ketamine therapy treatment (compared to traditional antidepressants, which usually take 4-6 weeks to take effect and are effective for 30-45% of people who take them).
The same study found that most participants felt better just 40 minutes after the onset of ketamine therapy. In 2014 Dr. Thomas Insel, former director of NIMH, declared that this ketamine "might be the most important breakthrough in antidepressant treatment in decades.”
How Does Ketamine Help? By Breaking the Self-Hate Thinking Cycle
Do you find yourself stuck in negative thought patterns?
Have traditional therapy and medications not lifted your depression?
When you’re depressed or having suicidal thoughts, they are often driven by thoughts that are overly self-critical. You may feel shame about who you are. You might feel that you’re a failure, and others would be better off without you.
How we think about ourselves is called our Self-Schema, a coined termed by the famous Psychologist Aaron Beck. In Beck’s view, the self-schema was a central part of well-being. If your self-schema became overly negative, you would experience depression.
A recent study of ketamine therapy found that it significantly lifted the self-schema of the participants after just 3 ketamine treatments. It’s thought that a central component to ketamine’s effectiveness against depression is just this; it stops the self-blame cycle that depressed people know all too well.
Notably, traditional antidepressants have not been shown to have an effect on self-schema, or significantly stop negative thinking patterns.
What People Are Saying About Ketamine Therapy
Here’s what our clients are saying about ketamine therapy:
“I’ve tried 3 or 4 antidepressants. Most didn’t work. Some worked for a month or two but the depression and hopeless thoughts crept back in. After my first ketamine treatment I felt the depression start to lift. After my 4th session, I no longer had suicidal thoughts. My world has color now. I laugh again. I actually want to get up and do things, new things that I never thought I could do before. I still have down days, but it’s normal to have down days. I don’t get stuck there. The things I’ve learned in therapy are finally starting to stick. I would encourage anyone eto try ketamine therapy if they are depressed or thinking about suicide.”
“I got treatment for basically an existential crisis, depression, and some suicidal thoughts. I just felt no joy in anything. My world was flat. Ketamine has turned down the volume of the critical voice in my head. The self-abusive trains of thought that use to whip around in my mind are just gone now. I’m no longer freezing up when I can’t make a decision. I feel more productive; I can just make a decision and move on. I would recommend giving it a try as an alternative to more antidepressants.”
Someone Out There
Feels better because you exist.
Remember that.
If You Are Feeling Hopeless, In Crisis, Or Thinking About Suicide (or just really, really need to talk to someone), see the resources below.
Resources for emergency and after-hours:
1. Suicide Prevention Lifeline Phone: 1-800-273-TALK (8255),suicidepreventionlifeline.org
2. Crisis Text Line: Text “HOME”to 741-741
3. Colorado Crisis Line, 1-844-493-8255;text “TALK” to 38255, coloradocrisisservices.org
4. Call 911 or go to the nearest ER
5. Call 2-1-1 or visit https://www.211colorado.org/