March is self-injury and self-harm awareness month. I would like to take this opportunity to let you know what self-harm is. Typically self-harm is anything someone does to intentionally injure themselves to deal with emotional pain. Examples of self-harm include behaviors like cutting, banging your head, or burning of the…
Spravato (Esketamine) Raising Both Hopes and Concerns
Many of you may or may not have heard that Spravato (Esketamine), a nasal spray, was approved by the US FDA in March of 2019 for treatment-resistant depression. This new drug is a ketamine cousin since it is a portion of the ketamine molecule. It has been touted as a…
New Hope for Depression
Every week, when Ian Hanley sits down with his therapist, he goes through a list of depression treatments he’s been researching online. The best-known treatments at the top of the list–half a dozen antidepressants and known combinations of those drugs–are all crossed out. “My therapist says he’s never had this…
Ketamine Could Be the Key to Reversing America’s Rising Suicide Rate
Joe Wright has no doubt that ketamine saved his life. A 34-year-old high school teacher who writes poetry every day on a typewriter, Wright was plagued by suicidal impulses for years. The thoughts started coming on when he was a high schooler himself, on Staten Island, N.Y., and intensified during…