Help Kerry access care for major depressive disorder and OCD
Donation protected
I have been good friends with Kerry since we were in the 5th grade. We grew up together in Massachusetts and connect over many things, like our love for animals and the band Death Cab for Cutie. She now lives in southern California, where she adopts and fosters senior dogs. She and I, and our mutual friends from our small hometown, remain very close.
Kerry has experienced major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder for over 15 years. In that time she has tried 10 medications with the guidance of psychiatrists, countless rounds of cognitive behavioral therapy, and participated in a clinical trial at UCSD for MRI-guided accelerated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), but has not found much relief. Her conditions are discouragingly treatment-resistant and have made school, employment, and daily living painful and difficult.
Depression and OCD can be considered "invisible" chronic illnesses because the suffering they inflict upon someone is not always apparent to others. My friend's symptoms significantly impact her ability to function at home (eat, sleep, shower, etc), perform at work and in education settings, and enjoy life. Her depression is persistent (no sustained periods of improvement), and she loses hours per day to OCD and body-focused repetitive behaviors (intense compulsive skin-picking and hair-pulling). She has difficulty leaving her house. It is hard to feel that life is worth living when one never feels well.
Kerry is desperate for relief. Her doctors have recommended ketamine-integrated therapy as well as intensive outpatient psychotherapy (seeing a specialized therapist multiple times each week) for psychiatric conditions with this level of severity. Ketamine can produce rapid and significant improvements in depressive and obsessive-compulsive symptoms for individuals who haven’t responded to traditional treatments, and it augments the benefits of ongoing psychotherapy.
We are hopeful that this approach to mental health care could succeed where conventional methods have failed. But these services are expensive. They could change her life, and she wants that chance.
Your donations will help cover:
- 1. Psychological and Medical Assessment: Kerry will be evaluated by clinicians at the ketamine treatment facility that she has chosen to work with so she can be cleared to receive this treatment.
- 2. Ketamine Infusions: Kerry will receive a series of intramuscular (IM) infusions of ketamine in a clinic setting. This series includes an induction phase and the beginning of a maintenance phase.
- 3. Integration Therapy Sessions: After each of the first few infusions, she will need guidance from a therapist to process and integrate the experiences, ensuring that she can make lasting changes in her life.
- 4. Ongoing Psychotherapy: Kerry will engage in intensive outpatient therapy with a therapist that specializes in depression, OCD, and related disorders, using evidence-based techniques such as exposure response prevention and habit reversal training. Ketamine will help this be more effective.
If Kerry cannot get well, she cannot work, and if she cannot work she cannot afford the cost of living, which is of course necessary to thrive. Any support is deeply appreciated, and means the world to her as she fights to reclaim her life and well-being. Kerry wants to be present for her family, friends, and dog Barky. Thank you!
Here are some links if you're interested in learning more about the topics mentioned in this fundraiser:
- International OCD Foundation
- Anxiety & Depression Association of America
- McLean Hospital's page on Psychedelic Therapy
- The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors
- PubMed Central - "a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine" (you can search for studies on the effects of ketamine on depression and OCD)
Organizer and beneficiary
Emily Yasi
Organizer
Framingham, MA
Kerry W
Beneficiary