As adults, it can be easy to forget just how difficult adolescence can be.
The human memory is designed to muffle the echo of life’s more painful experiences. In fact, if our brains were unable to forget—if each of life’s losses were as vivid today as they were the day they happened—most of us would never bother to get out of bed in the morning. However, recalling our adolescent years may be critical to helping today’s youth—a generation more overrun by depression than any generation prior.
Between 2007 and 2017, teen depression grew at an astronomical rate of 59%, with depression in teenaged girls outpacing the growth of depression in teenaged boys by 22%. According to the Pew Research Center, 13% of all U.S. adolescents experience at least one major depressive episode between the ages of 12 and 17.
It’s easy to think about teen depression and chalk it off as an extreme case of teen angst. However, it’s not easy to think about the fact that teen suicide rates are the highest they have ever been, and children’s hospital visits for suicidal ideations has more than doubled since 2008. To add even more complexity to the situation, researchers have no idea why teen depression is growing so rapidly right now, making prevention difficult…if not impossible.
Fortunately, depression treatments are available, and many teenagers respond positively to a combination of antidepressant medications and talk therapy. However, about 30% of teenagers don’t respond to these first-line depression treatments. In situations where time is of the essence—specifically, in cases where suicidal ideations are involved—a faster-acting, more effective treatment is needed.
This is where ketamine comes into play. Ketamine infusions are a rapid-acting and highly effective depression treatment for both adults and adolescents, alike. There are many reports of severely depressed and suicidal adolescents returning to normal lives after receiving an initial series of ketamine infusions. After the initial series of 4-6 infusions, some patients find that they can maintain their positive results through talk therapy, exercise, and other holistic depression treatments. Other patients find that they need maintenance infusions—sometimes bi-weekly, other times bi-annually…and everywhere in between. Ketamine works differently for each unique individual…but the bottom line is that it works.
Of course, ketamine is not a depression cure or a silver bullet for those struggling with suicidal thoughts. Talk to your primary care provider or mental health practitioner to find out if ketamine infusions might be the ray of light your teen has been searching for.
Contact Vitalitas Denver
Vitalitas Denver is Colorado’s leading provider of ketamine treatments for depression and chronic pain. Between our Denver and Boulder/Fort Collins area ketamine treatment centers, we have performed thousands of infusions. We are highly experienced in ketamine administration, and would love to answer any questions you have about ketamine for depression and pain. Contact us today using the brief form below!
