Your Mind’s Secret Defense System — and How Ketamine & the Stellate Ganglion Block Help

Physical stress exposes how tightly your nervous system (fight–flight) and immune system coordinate. When either is overactive, PTSD and depression can worsen. Two targeted tools—ketamine therapy and the stellate ganglion block (SGB)—can help recalibrate that loop.

Learn about this powerful loop from Dr. Kaveh's video:

Why the Immune System is so Important for Depression and PTSD

• Stress impairs wound healing. Psychological stress measurably delays healing and alters immune signaling.
• Inflammation can worsen mood. Worse immune system markers can exacerbate depression and PTSD symptoms.
• The nerve–immune feedback runs both ways: threat signals amplify inflammation; inflammation amplifies threat signals. That’s why stress can worsen pain, infections, and recovery risk.

Ketamine: Flexibility + Anti-Inflammatory Effects

• Ketamine therapy rapidly increases cognitive flexibility and may directly modulate inflammatory pathways—relevant for depression with immune activation.
  
  • Doctor-guided ketamine therapy can promote faster depression symptom relief, potential immune “downshift,” and improved engagement with therapy.

Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB): Reset Sympathetic Overdrive

• SGB temporarily numbs key nerves underlying your fight-flight response.
  
  • The fight-flight response plays a major role in PTSD symptoms in many patients, and numbing the nerves can provide significant symptom relief.
  • In long COVID, a retrospective series reported improvements in brain fog, fatigue, and smell/taste after SGB.

When to Consider Ketamine or SGB

• Ketamine: treatment-resistant depression, PTSD symptoms, anxiety, and chronic pain—especially when inflammation is suspected.
• SGB: autonomic dysfunction (hyperarousal, palpitations), long-COVID symptoms, or PTSD hypervigilance.

Start Healing Today

Calibrating the nerve–immune loop improves recovery and mental health. Speak with a doctor at Clarus Health today to learn how ketamine can restore cognitive–emotional flexibility while dampening inflammatory tone, and how SGB can “reboot” sympathetic overdrive to rebalance your body.