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Sandhya Prashad, MD is the medical director at Houston Ketamine Therapeutics and Houston Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy. There is no question that the pandemic has shaped myriad aspects of life as we know it, including significantly impacting the mental health care industry. While the unprecedented events have resulted in mental health challenges, it has also delivered...

BELLAIRE, Texas, Aug. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Ketamine, which was originally developed as an anesthetic, has emerged over the last two decades as the biggest breakthrough in 50 years for treatment-resistant depression and suicidality. Despite a growing body of research surrounding its use, guidelines establishing recommendations for best practices have been limited. The American Society...

This past week the American Journal of Psychiatry published an exciting new study “Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression (SAINT),” which is highlighted in this recent piece in Inverse. We interviewed our Chief Services Officer and co-founder Owen Muir, MD, who was excited to explain how this treatment works, why it’s so important, and how...

An accelerated, high-dose transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy significantly improved depression symptoms in a small, open-label study. (more…)

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a variant of the anesthetic and party drug ketamine for suicidal patients with major depression. (more…)

A new indication of Janssen’s ketamine based-nasal spray Spravato (intranasal esketamine) has been approved for rapid reduction of depression symptoms in those with major depressive disorder who have imminent risk of suicidal ideation, according to Houston-based psychiatrist Sandhya Prashad. “The original indication for treatment-resistant depression meant that patients had failed treatments...

An option for people who don’t see successful results from standard depression treatments like talk therapy or antidepressants is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Research shows that this non-invasive technique, which uses electromagnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain, can fill the therapeutic void left when other treatments fail. (more…)

In March 2019, intranasal esketamine—a form of ketamine marketed as SPRAVATO™ CIII Nasal Spray*—was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). James Murrough, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai’s Depression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, was deeply involved in the research that led to esketamine’s FDA...

For many people coping with major depressive disorder—which includes different types of depression that persist for at least two weeks—antidepressants can play an invaluable role in helping relieve symptoms, enabling them to resume the life they once enjoyed. But for those who experience a form known as treatment-resistant depression (TRD), standard medications tend to provide little to no...

It goes without saying that COVID-19 is on the minds of nearly every American. The societal and economic disruption is almost without precedent. As government officials and clinicians wrestle with issues of how to protect the public, there seem to be more questions than answers. The mental health effects of COVID-19 are as important to address as are the physical health effects. Social...