For 25 years, I stood on the front lines of healthcare as a board-certified emergency medicine physician. I worked in Level 1 trauma centers. I treated thousands of patients in crisis — people battling severe depression, crippling anxiety, and active suicidal ideation.
My job was to stabilize them. I would give them traditional medications, make sure they were safe for the night, and send them home or to an inpatient facility. But here is the hard truth that haunted me: I rarely saw them truly get better. The revolving door of the ER meant I often saw the same faces returning, their pain unhealed by standard-of-care treatments.
By 2020, the weight of the ER had taken its toll. I wasn’t just treating burnout and depression anymore — I was living it. The long hours, the relentless stress, and the emotional burden culminated in my own battle with severe depression and suicidal thoughts. I was a doctor who knew how to save lives, but I couldn’t figure out how to save my own with the traditional medical toolkit.
Then I rediscovered ketamine.
From Sedation to Transformation: How Ketamine Actually Works
As an ER doctor, I was intimately familiar with ketamine. I had used it for over two decades as a safe, reliable anesthetic and sedative for procedures. But I began diving into the emerging research on what ketamine does at sub-anesthetic doses.
The science was staggering. Traditional antidepressants like SSRIs work primarily on the serotonin system — and we now know they fail 30% to 40% of the people who try them. Why? Because depression isn’t just a “chemical imbalance” of serotonin. Chronic stress and trauma actually cause your brain to lose physical connections between neurons, a process called synaptic pruning.
Ketamine works entirely differently. It targets the glutamate system, the brain’s most abundant neurotransmitter, and triggers a massive release of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). Think of BDNF as Miracle-Gro for your brain. It stimulates neuroplasticity, helping your neurons rapidly grow new connections and repair the damage caused by depression. And unlike SSRIs — which can take weeks or months to show any effect — ketamine can begin rebuilding these neural pathways within hours.
I didn’t just read the research. I experienced it. Ketamine therapy pulled me out of the darkness. It didn’t just help my patients — it saved my life.
Why I Founded AlphaOmega Wellness
That profound personal and professional shift led me to leave the ER and found AlphaOmega Wellness. Since then, I have supervised thousands of ketamine infusions. I have sat with patients who had failed 5, 10, even 15 different psychiatric medications. I have watched people walk into our clinic planning their deaths — and walk out a few weeks later planning their futures.
The conversation around mental health is broken, and the science of psychedelic medicine is moving faster than traditional healthcare can keep up with. Here on the AlphaOmega blog, we explore the frontiers of brain health:
- The Science — clear, accessible breakdowns of how treatments like ketamine actually work, the role of neuroplasticity, and why traditional models fall short.
- The Stories — real case studies from the front lines of ketamine and psychedelic therapy.
- The Truth — honest discussions about mental health, faith, burnout, and healing.
Whether you are a patient searching for answers when nothing else has worked, a healthcare professional curious about the data, or simply someone interested in the future of brain health — you are in the right place. There is a better way to heal. I’m living proof of it.
— Dr. Dee Bonney
Board-Certified ER Physician & Founder of AlphaOmega Wellness
Frequently Asked Questions About Ketamine Therapy
How is ketamine therapy different from antidepressants like SSRIs?
SSRIs work on the serotonin system and fail an estimated 30–40% of the people who try them. Ketamine targets the brain’s glutamate system and triggers BDNF, which promotes neuroplasticity and helps the brain grow new connections — often within hours rather than weeks.
What is treatment-resistant depression?
Treatment-resistant depression generally refers to depression that hasn’t improved after trying two or more standard antidepressants at adequate doses. Many of our patients had tried 5, 10, or even 15 medications before exploring ketamine therapy.
How does ketamine affect the brain?
Chronic stress and trauma can prune away connections between neurons. At sub-anesthetic doses, ketamine releases BDNF — often described as “Miracle-Gro for the brain” — which promotes neuroplasticity and helps repair those lost connections.
Is ketamine therapy safe?
Ketamine has been used safely as an anesthetic and sedative in emergency medicine for over 50 years. At AlphaOmega Wellness, every infusion is medically supervised by a board-certified physician following a thorough medical evaluation.
Where can I get ketamine therapy in Central Indiana?
AlphaOmega Wellness provides physician-supervised IV ketamine therapy for depression, anxiety, and PTSD in Greenwood, Indiana, serving the greater Indianapolis and Central Indiana area. Learn more or request a consultation here.