DEPRESSION
IV ketamine therapy for depression
If you have tried the antidepressants and the therapy and still feel like you are watching your own life through glass, you are not out of options. We treat depression at the neurological root, with the brain-health work that makes it hold.
70%Average PHQ-9 drop
6Infusions over 2–3 weeks
2022Running ketamine since
Symptom-score data based on AlphaOmega Wellness treatment records, 2022–2026, using PHQ-9 and GAD-7. Individual results vary.
IF THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR
You took the kids somewhere fun and just wanted to go home.
That is not ingratitude. That is depression flattening the things that used to feel like something.
If that lands but the word depression does not, start here instead. Plenty of people arrive functioning, flat, and certain they do not qualify.
Maybe you have cycled through two or three antidepressants, waited the six weeks each time, and landed right back in the same fog. When that happens it is not a character flaw and it is not the end of the list. It has a name — treatment-resistant depression — and it means the approach needs to change, not that you do.
WHERE YOU PROBABLY ARE
The ladder most people have already climbed
Almost everyone who calls us has been up most of these rungs. Seeing it written down tends to be the moment it stops feeling like a personal failure and starts looking like what it is: a sequence that ran out.
01
A first SSRI, and six weeks to find out whether it worked.
02
A second SSRI, or a switch to an SNRI. Another six weeks.
03
Augmentation — something added on top of what was already not working.
04
Therapy, which helped you understand it without helping you carry it.
05
IV ketamine, which acts on a different system entirely. You are here
THE MECHANISM
Why a different system matters
Most antidepressants nudge serotonin, slowly. Ketamine works somewhere else entirely: glutamate and the NMDA receptors, which trigger BDNF — a protein that helps the brain repair the synaptic connections chronic depression wears down.
It also quiets the default mode network, the part of the brain that runs the rumination loop. And for days after each infusion your brain sits in a window where it is unusually ready to form new connections. That window is the reason what you do afterward matters as much as the infusion itself.
The full clinical picture is on the IV ketamine therapy page, including the protocol step by step.
IN THEIR WORDS
What it looked like from the inside
This is one of our patients describing what high-functioning depression actually felt like — holding a job, showing up, and feeling nothing underneath it.
More on the reviews page, including stories from people who had been at it a lot longer.
Struggling with suicidal thoughts? If you are in crisis right now, call or text 988. When you are safe, know that ketamine has strong, fast-acting evidence for reducing suicidal ideation, and we are here to help.
Depression tangled up with anxiety or PTSD? That is the norm rather than the exception, and we treat them together rather than one at a time.
QUESTIONS PEOPLE ACTUALLY ASK
Depression and IV ketamine
How fast does ketamine work for depression?
Many people notice a shift within hours to a few days of the first infusion, rather than the four to six weeks an antidepressant takes. The early response is not the whole story though — the series is what makes it durable.
Do I have to stop my antidepressant?
Usually no. Most people continue their current medication, and any changes are made by your prescriber, not by us unilaterally. We review everything you are taking at the consult.
What if two antidepressants already failed?
Then you may meet the clinical definition of treatment-resistant depression, which is exactly the group IV ketamine has the strongest evidence in. We wrote about what that label actually means on the treatment-resistant depression page.
How many infusions will I need?
The standard induction is six infusions over two to three weeks. After that we reassess and decide together whether maintenance makes sense. There is no forever schedule here.
Does insurance cover it?
No. IV ketamine for depression is used off label, so this is self-pay. HSA and FSA both work, Affirm is available, and the full breakdown is on the cost page.
What if it does not work for me?
Then we will tell you, and we will tell you what we would look at instead. We would rather send you somewhere useful than keep you in a chair.
GET STARTED
Find out if this is a fit
Book a free consult and we will tell you honestly whether IV ketamine is a fit for your depression. About thirty minutes, with our team rather than a call center. We cover pricing, HSA and FSA, Affirm, and first-responder and veteran discounts on the call. No pressure and no hard sell.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Dee Bonney, MD, board-certified emergency medicine physician, and Megan Bonney, PMHNP-C, board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. AlphaOmega Wellness is physician-led and family-owned, in Greenwood, Indiana. Meet the team.