Treating chronic pain with low dose ketamine and adjunct therapies within a biopsychosocial approach: a case series.
Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) January 1, 2025 Shahar Almog, Michelle Weiner, Jessica N Howarth et al.
Chronic pain involves both physical and psychological factors. A proposed multidisciplinary approach combines low-dose ketamine with pain-focused psychological and somatic therapies to improve quality of life for disabled chronic pain patients. Beyond pain reduction, the treatment aims to reduce suffering and improve pain management, functionality, and quality of life. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach can minimize ketamine exposure and maintain a conservative dosing regimen. Ketamine is used not only for analgesic effects but also to facilitate internal psychological processes of body-mind integration related to pain identity and trauma. The approach is illustrated with three cases treated in a private clinic in Florida, describing original injury, treatment regimen, and short- and longer-term outcomes from the patient's perspective. These preliminary results require replication with validated measures.