If I take dextromethorphan (NyQuil) then four or so hours later I’m back to feeling like I did before I took it.
Just to be clear, I’m asking about taking ketamine under the supervision of a doctor. Not recreationally.
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Think of it like preworkout supplements but for therapy. NMDAR antagonists induce a dissociative state that gives you that kind of trippy, hallucinogenic feeling. That state (also possible through other drugs, notably recreational mushrooms) is associated with increased neuroplasticity, the ability of your brain to change existing neural pathways and form new ones.
Now you can take a drug like that, sit in on your couch until it wears off, and you’ll be the same as you were before. *But* if you take that drug and then go into a therapy session where you’re actively trying to train yourself out of harmful thought patterns, it makes it much easier to build up new pathways and people see faster, lasting progress in treating things like PTSD and depression. The drugs don’t do anything to fix you on their own, they just create more potential for change should you choose to use it.
The other important distinction is that while there are lots of drugs that induce neuroplasticity to some degree, not all of them are gonna be a good fit for a therapy setting – you need something that will give you the goldilocks level of neuroplasticity to be helpful but not enough other side-effects like nausea, drowsiness, confusion, seizure risk. NyQuil specifically won’t produce ketamine’s dissociative effects unless you take crazy high doses and that comes with a risk of psychotic breaks and a bunch of other kinda terrifying side effects.
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