Anxiety Treatment
Anxiety Treatment in Philadelphia, PA
Nearly everyone experiences some form of anxiety. Whether it’s a new job or a tough conversation, we all get anxious. However, if anxiety keeps you from doing what you need and want to do, that’s a problem. When chronic anxiety doesn’t improve with talk therapy or psychiatric medications, it’s time to consider ketamine. Ketamine quickly and effectively relieves your anxiety, allowing you to start anew and rewrite your life’s journey.
When Should I get Help for Anxiety?
When you feel anxious, your brain sends hormones that activate your body. That response is natural and preps your body for a high-stress situation.
When the immediate threat is over, your hormone levels should return to normal as your anxiety subsides. However, your body stays on high alert if you have an anxiety disorder, even when you don’t face a stressful situation. That type of anxiety takes hold of your life, causes ongoing worry and fear, and prevents you from doing the things you want. That’s when you should seek help.
How Do I Know if I Have Anxiety?
There are several anxiety disorders, each with unique symptoms that set it apart from the others. Anxiety disorders cause symptoms such as:
- Uncontrollable worry or fear
- Nervousness or restlessness
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability
- Nausea
- Sweating
- Headaches
- Muscle aches
- Trouble sleeping
You may also panic attack and experience symptoms like a racing heartbeat, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and dizziness.
Examples of Anxiety Disorders
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) – Characterized by chronic anxiety and exaggerated worry and tension, even if there is little or nothing to provoke it.
Panic Disorder – Characterized by unexpected, repeated episodes of intense fear, usually accompanied by physical symptoms, including heart palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, or abdominal distress.
Social Phobia/Social Anxiety Disorder – Characterized by overwhelming anxiety and self-consciousness in social settings. It can be limited to only one type of situation, such as a fear of public speaking. However, it can also be so pronounced that a person experiences symptoms anytime they are around other people.
Agoraphobia – Characterized by feeling fear in and avoiding places or situations that may cause you to panic or feel helpless.
Some may develop an anxiety disorder due to a medical condition that includes symptoms of intense anxiety caused by a physical health problem.
Selective Mutism – Characterized by a failure of children to speak in some social situations, even when they can talk in others (such as at home with close family).
Separation Anxiety Disorder – A childhood disorder characterized by anxiety related to separation from parents or others with parental roles.
Substance-Induced Anxiety Disorder – Characterized by symptoms of intense anxiety or panic resulting from misusing drugs or taking medications.
How Does Ketamine Infusion Therapy Treat Anxiety?
Recent evidence points to ketamine’s inhibitory effects on the NMDA receptor in the lateral habenula. The lateral habenula is a brain region primarily responsible for encoding negative rewards or anti-reward cause-and-effect relationships. Those with anxiety show an overactivity of burst firing in the lateral habenula. As a non-competitive NMDA antagonist, ketamine prevents glutamate from activating the NMDA receptor.
The inhibition of the NMDA receptor may cause a build-up of free glutamate, which then activates the AMPA receptors. When surplus glutamate activates the AMPA receptor, it releases a brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) chemical. BDNF, in interaction with the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), promotes new neural growth. This new growth may reroute the brain from hyperactive areas associated with negative reward signals, thereby providing long-term relief from mental health conditions and chronic pain conditions.
Getting Treatment
Voyage Healing offers compassionate and effective ketamine treatment for anxiety. We are a psychiatrist-led clinic with many expert therapists on hand. To learn more about ketamine infusion therapy, contact our office to schedule a free info call or use the online booking system today.
