A SURPRISE FIX FOR FOUNDERS

Founders index high for mental illness, but no one needed to tell that to Ronn Dunnett, who makes pricey handmade snare drums for musicians like Neil Peart of Rush. He battled severe depression for years. He tried therapy and multiple medications, to no avail. Then, last year, Dunnett learned about a promising new treatment—ketamine.

Yes, ketamine—which, although an FDA-approved anesthetic, is better known for sending club kids into nonresponsive and severely dissociative k-holes. But in recent years, it has earned a reputation as an effective off-label treatment for depression and suicidal thoughts. Findings from numerous studies bolster that rep— and hundreds of entrepreneurial docs have opened clinics. Like Steven L. Mandel, who founded Ketamine Clinics of Los Angeles in 2014, and who treated Dunnett. (Off-label use is legal, but insurance companies don’t cover it.) “Ketamine was my hail mary,” says Dunnett. “I can finally feel pleasure.” Before treatment, he’d gone as far as to plan his suicide—in the garage, with his motorcycle. “This isn’t hyperbole—this gives some people their lives back,” says Mandel, who adds that about half of his patients are entrepreneurs. Take care of yourselves during the long, gray days of winter, all. —