Ketamine for Thanksgiving Depression: Can Ketamine Help Thanksgiving Sadness?

Thanksgiving gratitude often gives way to holiday depression for people with seasonal depression and seasonal affective disorder.

As October comes to an end, marked by the festive Halloween season, we begin to anticipate Thanksgiving Day and the rest of the holiday season that lasts through Christmas and New Years. Yet, for many people, holiday blues set in early as the Thanksgiving celebration looms ahead.

Can ketamine IV infusion therapy help to reduce Thanksgiving depression symptoms before the holidays get started? Could ketamine be the ultimate solution to the holiday blues?

For those people who struggle with mental illness issues, including seasonal depression and seasonal affective disorder, the change in seasons to fall is in full swing by the time that thanksgiving dinner is served. Additionally, there are many other people who associate the season of the Thanksgiving Day parade with the sadness of the loss of a loved one, or with a traumatic event.

Thanksgiving depression can be exacerbated by the holiday stress that begins around the start of November every year. Black Friday sales are announced, and the stress of preparing for the gift giving season of Christmas is now in full swing.

Have you ever been to Macy’s in New York City during the holiday season? The anxiety and depression caused by anticipating fighting through those crowds the day after the Thanksgiving holiday can be significant.

Then, there is the Thanksgiving meal and the family gathering. Interestingly, many people have a feeling of intense loneliness, even when surrounded by loved ones all wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to each other.

How can ketamine infusion therapy help with Thanksgiving depression and anxiety?

For people who get just a bit sad when the holiday season arrives, there may be no need for any medical therapy. Some counseling, or just talking with a friend or family member may be enough.

Yet, for others with existing mental health challenges, the exacerbation of depression that comes around the end of October and beginning of November can be serious. If you are in this situation, you have likely already seen a mental health professional for help. Ketamine treatment provides a lasting antidepressant effect for the patient who presents with depressive symptoms that are worse during the holiday season.

For decades, psychiatrists have tended to turn to SSRIs as the first line of treatment for major depression. SSRIs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and Lexapro are examples of SSRIs.

In recent years, experts have begun to have a better understanding of the efficacy of these mood stabilizing drugs. As it turns out, SSRIs are not as effective as psychiatrists once believed. And, we now know that they cause significant physical dependence.

Fortunately, intravenous ketamine works very well for severe depression where traditional antidepressants have failed. Thanksgiving depression as an exacerbation of an ongoing depressive disorder, can be treated with IV ketamine.

How does an intravenous infusion with ketamine therapy provide an antidepressant response to the patient with Thanksgiving depression, Christmas depression, or New Years depression?

Repeated infusions of ketamine for depression over a period of 2-3 weeks is a highly effective depression treatment. If a patient with treatment resistant depression starts IV infusion therapy at their local ketamine clinic early in the holiday season, they have an excellent chance of having a more enjoyable time at Thanksgiving dinner, as well as the holidays that come in December.

Ketamine works on the NMDA receptor, blocking the action of glutamate, and affecting the activity of both glutamate and GABA in the brain. The result is neurogenesis, which means growth of brain neurons. Dendrites form the connections between neurons, and ketamine helps the dendrites to grow and reach out, forming new connections, which helps to reduce depressive symptoms.

Additionally, patients who suffer from holiday exacerbations of PTSD, suicidal ideation, anxiety, chronic pain, and a variety of mood disorders, may benefit from ketamine infusion treatment, or esketamine nasal spray. Patients who suffer from suicidal thoughts related to either depression symptoms, bipolar disorder, or post traumatic stress disorder are at lower risk for a suicide attempt during the holidays.

Ketamine also reduces the risk of substance abuse, drug relapse, and alcohol relapses for people addicted to drugs or alcohol. Alcoholics working hard to maintain holiday sobriety may benefit from a series of ketamine infusions.

When the holidays are approaching, rather than visiting the psychiatrist for yet another round of antidepressant medication, why not consider ketamine for thanksgiving depression as an alternative?

Will a Thanksgiving ketamine infusion for depression last through Christmas and New Years?

Ketamine infusion therapy is long-lasting, in part, because the treatment promotes the growth of new connections in the brain. Unlike traditional antidepressants, there is no need to take ketamine on a daily basis for months, or even years at a time.

In fact, intravenous ketamine therapy is often performed in a series of six sessions over a couple of weeks. In some cases, patients benefit from additional sessions or long-term periodic boosters, but many clients are satisfied with the results of the initial series of ketamine sessions.

Imagine getting your treatments done before or around Thanksgiving, and being all set for the holidays at the end of December? And, your enjoyment of the buildup to the Christmas/New Years season that begins at Thanksgiving time will be greatly increased.

Of course, the ultimate goal is to live a better life all year round, without the nagging pain of depression and anxiety. Ketamine therapy can help at any time during the year, but there is nothing wrong with getting started in the early holiday season. Consider giving yourself the gift of emotional healing.

Even if January comes around, and you wish you had decided to start infusion therapy sooner, there is no time like the present. You can make it your New Years resolution to commit to prioritizing your mental and emotional health by learning more about the success of ketamine in treating depression, and many other mental health issues and chronic pain conditions.