Mental Health

Depression can affect mood, sleep, concentration, relationships, work, and physical health. Pacific Pain & Wellness Group offers mental health treatment options for patients who need a thoughtful evaluation and a care plan that may include psychotherapy, medication management, TMS therapy, ketamine infusions, or coordinated support when depression overlaps with chronic pain.

This resource hub helps patients understand the depression treatment options available through Pacific Pain & Wellness Group and points to the most relevant treatment and education pages.

Ketamine infusions are used at Pacific Pain & Wellness Group as a physician-guided treatment option for selected patients with chronic pain conditions, treatment-resistant depression, and certain mental health symptoms. This resource explains how ketamine fits into care at Pacific Pain & Wellness Group and helps patients find the right treatment path.

Pacific Pain & Wellness Group separates ketamine care into two clinical tracks because patients usually arrive with different goals, coverage questions, and medical histories:

For years, chronic pain and mental health have been treated as separate islands—patients are often forced to drive to one clinic for back pain and a completely different office for depression. But science and experience tell us this fragmented approach fails because:

Chronic pain and mental health are physically interconnected in the brain.

The holidays are often described as “the most wonderful time of the year,” but for many people—especially those managing stress, chronic pain, anxiety, or depression—this season can feel overwhelming. Expectations rise, schedules become crowded, family dynamics intensify, and the pressure to “be happy” can make any emotional challenge feel heavier.

We all want to feel grounded—to wake up with clarity, move through our days with confidence, and truly enjoy time with the people we care about. But when your mental health is out of balance, even simple moments can feel overwhelming.

Stress, sadness, racing thoughts, or emotional numbness can slowly take hold. And when they do, it's not just your mood that's affected—it can impact your energy, sleep, focus, and even physical health.

If you or someone you love has been living with depression that doesn’t respond to medication or therapy, you’re not alone. Nearly one-third of people with major depressive disorder experience what’s called treatment-resistant depression (TRD). But there’s new hope—Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is changing the way we treat depression, offering lasting relief without the side effects of medication.

The connection between diet, chronic pain, and mental health is increasingly clear. Numerous studies have demonstrated that certain foods can either alleviate or worsen symptoms of pain, anxiety, and depression. Understanding how your food choices influence your physical and mental well-being can empower you to manage these conditions effectively.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an FDA-cleared treatment that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression. Its safety and effectiveness have been well documented for many years and is recommended by the American Psychiatric Association for the treatment of major depressive disorder. TMS is one of the only non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical treatments for depression. TMS uses magnets to create a pulsed magnetic field, the same technology used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Ketamine is a powerful treatment tool that we use to manage symptoms of certain mood disorders. This medication has been used for decades as an anesthetic for surgery.

Over the years, science and medicine have also established ketamine as a safe and effective treatment for: