Ketamine vs Ketamine Therapy for mood
Short answer: For mood, users rate them about the same: 97% report improvement with Ketamine (62 reports) and 100% with Ketamine Therapy (6 reports).
Ketamine has 854 meta-analyses and 1,957 randomized trials on PubMed; Ketamine Therapy has 5 and 2.
Based on 141 reports about Ketamine and 17 about Ketamine Therapy. Not medical advice.
| Ketamine Medication | Ketamine Therapy Medication | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 65%helped65 reports · medium confidence | 83%helped6 reports · few reports |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mostly positive |
| Research | AResearch: Strong | BResearch: Moderate |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 854 / 1,957 | 5 / 2 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Mood % reporting improvement | 97% (62) | 100% (6) |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | 90% (10) | 100% (2) |
| Common side effects | dissociation, headache, fatigue, insomnia | bladder damage |
| Typical dose reported | Not listed | Not listed |
Compared with etomidate, ketamine probably results in more hemodynamic instability during the peri-intubation period and appears to have no effect on successful intubation on the first attempt or mortality. However, ketamine results in decreased need for the initiation of vasopressor use and decreases adrenal suppression compared with etomidate.
Crit Care Med, 2025 ↗“One thing that has really helped me tremendously, without the nasty side effects of SSRIs, is Ketamine infusions.”
Evidence suggests that IV ketamine provides significant short-term analgesic benefit in patients with refractory chronic pain, with some evidence of a dose-response relationship. Larger, multicenter studies with longer follow-ups are needed to better select patients and determine the optimal treatment protocol.
Anesth Analg, 2019 ↗“I suffer from depression and anxiety but it is being managed via ketamine therapy which has quite literally saved me from the abyss.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate