
OVID Clinic Berlin
Ketamine infusions to treat psychiatric disorders
Ketamine & psychotherapy
Why is ketamine used for Augmented Psychotherapy?
Ketamine was developed as an anesthetic and painkiller and has been used worldwide for over 50 years. It is a particularly safe drug with few side effects. A ketamine infusion at a lower dosage (sub-anesthetic) can produce apsychedelic experience and show a rapid onset of antidepressant effects. Ketamine treatment is not a new therapy for depression. Our clinic combines the administration of ketamine as an infusion with psychotherapy to deepen psychotherapeutic processes and alleviate suffering from mental illness.

KETAMINE IN PSYCHIATRY
Ketamine infusions to treat depression, anxiety disorder and OCD
After the first studies on the treatment of depression in 2000, the (at least scientific) interest in ketamine for the treatment of severe depression was moderate. This has changed over the last decade. There has been a surge of interest in ketamine for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Can ketamine be described as a “new therapy” for depression and other disorders? There is good evidence for the fast antidepressive effects of ketamine. We have compiled a short overview of studies for you.
SOLIDIFYING THE EFFECTS OF KETAMINE
Our treatment with ketamine
A relevant effect of ketamine infusions is a significant change in one’s state of consciousness, which lasts for about an hour. We use this change therapeutically with you in our clinic as part of ketamine-augmented psychotherapy. By using a perfusor (a syringe pump) and specialist administration by an anesthesiologist, an optimal dose range for inducing therapeutically valuable altered states of consciousness can be found. The next day, a psychotherapy session is held to integrate the experience from the ketamine session. In this way, we aim to solidify the short-term positive effects of ketamine so that they last long-term.
SIDE EFFECTS
Ketamine has side effects
Ketamine has a mind-altering effect. During a ketamine infusion, patients experience a change in their perceptions, feelings and thoughts. The intensity of this change and experience can vary. We integrate the ketamine infusion into a specifically designed therapeutic concept.
Other physical side effects include a moderate increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Nausea, vomiting and blurred vision may also occur. Allergic reactions are very rare. In our practice, we explain the side effects of ketamine and any risks to patients in detail during medical education sessions.
DEVELOPMENT AS A DRUG
From lab to psychiatry
Research on ketamine began in 1926 with the development of phencyclidine (PCP). This substance was not marketed until 30 years later, in 1956, by the company Parke-Davis (today Pfizer) as the drug “Sernyl”. Two years later, the first animal trials with the substance as an anesthetic began.
Further information on Ketamin
Esketamine nose spray SPRAVATO ®
Ketamine is a so-called racemate, a mixture of two different forms. One form, esketamine, was developed by the U.S. company Johnson & Johnson as a nasal spray into a drug that was approved by the U.S. FDA as well as the European EMA in 2019. The approval exists (as Spravato) for treatment-resistant depression that has not responded to at least two different therapies with antidepressants. In this case, esketamine is to be given in addition to an SSRI or an SNRI. Spravato has not yet been launched in Germany, but the market launch is imminent. The article “How much should an antidepressant cost?” reports that a treatment with Spravato costs a total of 8280 euros in Germany. The price refers to pharmacological treatment without psychotherapeutic support and still surpasses the costs of our ketamine-augmented psychotherapy.