The Daily Valet. - 1/5/22, Wednesday

✔️ A Controversial Therapy

January 05, 2022

Wednesday, January 5th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

On the bright side, 2022 is sort of fun to type, right?

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s Big Story

Ketamine Therapy?

The mind-altering drug has been shown to help people suffering from anxiety and depression

While microdosing psilocybin and MDMA-assisted therapy were a big topic of conversation in 2021, the use of psychedelics is still illegal in the United States, regardless of the context they are used in.

The same cannot be said of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic with remarkable anti-depressant effects, that at the right dose, can induce powerful altered states of consciousness.

A review of dozens of academic papers has determined ketamine therapy has a quick (and positive) impact on patients battling depression and suicidal thoughts. For other psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders, there is early evidence to suggest the potential benefit of ketamine treatment as well.

Of course, you might might know ketamine as the party drug, called Special K, for its euphoric and hallucinogenic effects. Among clubgoers, taking so much that you became unaware of your surroundings—experiencing a “K-hole”—was typically considered a scary mistake.

According to Forbes, therapists at ketamine infusion clinics now help patients process the experience. “You are clear and cloudy at the same time when you get infusions,” said one nurse. The drug helps decouple an individual’s emotional subjectivity from their objectivity, enabling them to “look from a third-person perspective at a first-person feeling.” Once they’ve reached a mild to moderate level of dissociation, experts say patients can process their emotions before they speak.

The New Yorker reports that the suicide rate in the U.S. has increased by nearly 30% since 1999; and in 2020, over 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses—many of them presumably medicating themselves out of the difficulties of ordinary consciousness. Ketamine can clearly be a solution. But just how it helps, who will administer it and who will profit remain open questions.

↦ Dig Deeper: A number of questions remain unanswered in the research field, including the optimal dose, route of administration and number of doses of ketamine treatment.

Great Resignation Continues

American workers quit jobs at a record level in November

The number of Americans voluntarily quitting their jobs surged to a record 4.5 million in November, a show of confidence in the labor market and an indication that higher wages could prevail for a while.

The 370,000 increase in quits reported in the Labor Department's monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey on Tuesday was led by the accommodation and food services industry.

Tthere were also big increases in the health care and social assistance fields as well as the transportation, warehousing and utilities sectors, reports Reuters. All four U.S. regions reported a rise in the number of people quitting their jobs.

According to data from Indeed.com, there were 12 million job openings in the U.S. at the end of December. The number of open jobs increased by about 1 million from late October, when the Labor Department said there were 11 million job openings.

The WeWork Guy Has a New Plan

Adam Neumann wants to become a modern apartment mogul

Adam Neumann, the controversial figure who built office co-working giant WeWork before flaming out and resigning as chief executive when his fortunes soured, has a new business venture under way: apartment landlord.

Apparently, he has become a major investor in multifamily properties, with entities tied to him acquiring stakes in more than 4,000 units, mostly in the Southeast, reports the Wall Street Journal. The ownership interests are valued at more than $1B.

Neumann has told friends and associates of his ambitions to build a company that would shake up the rental-housing industry. This tracks with chatter from a few months ago, when an “insider” told the New York Post that Neumann had “big plans,” the scope of which “involves what happened in the world because of the pandemic.”

As Curbed points out, the new venture does technically do just that—rental prices are surging around the country and a lot of people moved to smaller cities—although it's kind of an underwhelming comeback for the man who'd once imagined a global all-encompassing empire of We: WeWork, WeLive, WeGrow (the school), Rise By We (the gym) along with We banks, boats and even WeMars. But, at least, he's said to be investing his own money this time.

Car Clubhouses Are Now a Thing

Car brands are building experiential gathering grounds for owners and enthusiasts

Car clubs make sense. They offer automotive enthusiasts the opportunity to get away from life and share experiences related to their vehicle of choice. After all, for these people the car is a lifestyle—not simply a transportation machine.

“Luxury consumer goods of any variety are about more than the products themselves,” writes Jake Emen of InsideHook. “High-end brands aren't just about what they make, but what they represent.” Which is why the world's most coveted car brands are building experiential gathering grounds for owners and enthusiasts.

Car clubs are nothing new, of course. And lately, there have been modern outfits like The Motoring Club that have been gaining in popularity. But the difference here is that these are brand-owned clubhouses—physical spaces in cities like New York, Los Angeles and Miami, with in-house restaurants, bars, galleries and events.

Does the Audi Design Loft or Genesis House actually help drive sales? Emen says probably not. But it's an add-on to the ownership of the vehicle itself (and certainly a savvy brand-building exercise). In some cases, these clubs offer a way to maximize your enjoyment of your car, whether it's racetrack experiences, training courses or cross-country road trips.

↦ Meanwhile: Toyota has just dethroned GM as the top-selling automaker in America after nearly a century.

In Other News

↦ Don’t Count on That Tax Refund Yet. Why It May Be Smaller This Year.

↦ It’s 2022. It’s Time You Rediscovered the Lost Art of the Phone Call.

↦ Sweetgreen Rolls Out a Subscription Program

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Novak Djokovic

Eating what you want

This cool projector

The Stylish Man’s Secret

Buy better with the help of a cobbler

Today's installment of our 31 Days series focuses on taking care of the things you buy. Do that, and you'll be able to afford better quality items that will last you longer.

Our own Brett F. Braley-Palko shares his secret of employing a local cobbler to save his shoes (or fix the deeply discounted luxury footwear he finds online).

I know that shoes aren't built the way they used to be—but some are. And those are usually an investment. If you're fed up with cheap, uncomfortable footwear that wears out in less than a year, then you're better off buying quality shoes and then taking care of that investment.

“For many, a cobbler may seem like an antiquated profession. And there is something almost Victorian about it—up there with chimney sweeps and blacksmiths,” he says. “But, I assure you, a cobbler has saved my bank account and made luxury shoes more accessible for me.”

↦ Read: The stylish man's secret.

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