If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.”
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A few months ago, Waynesville Police Sgt. Paige Shell was about to give up hope of getting better. The daily drip of violence, death, and misery from almost 20 years in law enforcement had left a mark. Her sleep was poor, depression was a stubborn companion, and thoughts of suicide had taken root.
Shell, who works in a rural community about 30 miles west of Asheville, tried talk therapy, but it didn’t work. When her counselor suggested ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, she was skeptical.
“I didn’t know what to expect. I’m a cop. It’s a trust thing,” she said with a thin smile.
Combining psychotherapy with low-dose ketamine, a hallucinogenic drug long used as an anesthetic, is a relatively new approach to treating severe depression and post-traumatic stress, especially in populations with high trauma rates such as firefighters, police officers, and military members. Yet evidence of the efficacy and safety of ketamine for treatment of mental health conditions is still evolving, and the market remains widely unregulated.
“First responders experience a disproportionately high burden of trauma and are often left without a lot of treatment options,” said Signi Goldman, a psychiatrist and co-owner of Concierge Medicine and Psychiatry in Asheville, who began including ketami …