The Physical & Psychological effects of Ketamine - William Swinburne

What is Ketamine?

Ketamine is a drug used for a variety of purposes, in both medical and recreational settings. Ketamine is known as a dissociative anaesthetic, which lends itself to its primary medical use for the induction and the maintenance of anaesthesia. However, these dissociative effects also make it appealing to use in a recreational setting, where the insufflation of the drug causes a trance-like state and a sense of disconnection from the environment.

Interestingly, ketamine began as an anaesthesia medicine in the 1960s, when it was used on the battlefields of the Vietnam War, ketamine could be relied upon for its safety and was thus used extensively for surgical purposes.

Psychological Effects of the drug

Due to the nature of the drugs function, the mental effects of ketamine are broad. Ketamine does have some mental effects which could be regarded as positive; notably it has been shown to ease the symptoms of depression to great effect and is currently being tested for the treatment of patients with chronic depression.

On the other hand, should the drug be used outside a medical environment, there is indeed a potential for abuse and unfortunately this heightens the probability of adverse mental effects. An individual who takes a dangerously high dose may experience agitation, hallucinations and discernible behavioural changes to name a few.

Lastly, similar to many medications and drugs, prolonged use can lead to tolerance and psychological addiction.

Physical Effects of the drug

Ketamine also has numerous physical effects; however, these effects are usually uncommon at smaller doses. At smaller doses the drug is likely to elevate the individual’s blood pressure along with muscle tremors, but these side-effects should not pose any threat to the user’s health if taken in a controlled manner.

Ketamine has some positive physical effects, e.g. pain relief and sedation, these effects are desirable for the drugs medical uses.

A well-known effect of ketamine at higher doses is the “k-hole”, the k-hole refers to a near-death sensation experienced by the drug user, with this particular phenomenon leading to some dangerous physical effects. The anaesthetic properties of ketamine may result in a detrimental loss of mobility, consequently a k-hole can lead to serious accidents/injuries with the individual under the influence finding it impossible to ask for help.

The sedative impact of ketamine is so potent that at higher doses the drug causes respiratory depression, unfortunately, respiratory failure is the most common cause of death from a ketamine overdose.

Summary

Overall, it is important to highlight the fact that when ketamine is used in a controlled manner as intended, the drug can be very safe to use with little potential of problems/abuse. Even recreationally, ketamine can be considered safer than more “hard” drugs, e.g. cocaine and heroin.

Ketamine is considered a relatively safe drug by governments internationally: the legal status for the drug is low, e.g. the US considers ketamine a schedule 3 classification and UN deems ketamine as a prescription drug and lists it as “unscheduled”.

Furthermore, it is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the safest and most effective medicines needed in a health system.[1]

Bibliography

1. World Health Organization. (‎2019)‎. World Health Organization model list of essential medicines: 21st list 2019. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/325771.