Innovative Psychiatry
By Moises Velasquez-Manoff –Contributing Opinion Writer It’s been way too long since there was a new class of drugs to treat depression. Ketamine might be the solution. In May of 2017, Louise decided that her life was just too difficult, so she’d end it. In the previous four years, three siblings and a half-sibling had died, […]
Ketamine is showing promise in alleviating suicidal thoughts. DEREK BERES 03 December, 2018 The popular party drug has shown promise in stopping suicidal thoughts in a number of small clinical studies. First synthesized in 1962, the anesthetic was used to treat Vietnam War soldiers in the early seventies. Though the accompanying hallucinations are a roadblock to […]
By Lindsey Tanner | APOctober 31 at 12:14 PM CHICAGO — It was launched decades ago as an anesthetic for animals and people, became a potent battlefield pain reliever in Vietnam and morphed into the trippy club drug Special K. Now the chameleon drug ketamine is finding new life as an unapproved treatment for depression and suicidal behavior. […]
A study led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators identifies two subanesthetic dosage levels of the anesthetic drug ketamine that appear to provide significant symptom relief to patients with treatment-resistant depression. In the October 2018 issue of Molecular Psychiatry they describe finding that single intravenous doses of 0.5 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg were more effective than an […]
By MEGAN THIELKING @meggophone OCTOBER 11, 2018 As ketamine clinics pop up across the U.S. to offer experimental infusions for depression, anxiety, and a slew of other conditions, training programs to teach providers how to run these businesses have also started to appear. They promise to teach everyone from anesthesiologists to advanced practice nurses the ins and outs of […]
Walk into Kalypso Wellness Centers in San Antonio, Texas, and you might be treated with one of five “proprietary blends” of ketamine. They’re not cheap — $495 per infusion — and not covered by insurance, but the company offers a “monthly” membership program to cut costs and advertises discounts for members of the military and first responders. Kalypso […]
Aug. 21, 2018 — Ketamine, a widely used anesthetic that’s also an illicit party drug, has taken on a new role in recent years: treating severe depression in people who have not responded to standard treatment. Researchers have called it the most exciting breakthrough in the field of depression research in the past half-century. One form of the drug, being […]
Average scores on the Children’s Depression Rating Scale dropped by 42.5% following low-dose IV ketamine infusions among 13 teenagers with treatment-resistant depression, findings published in Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology showed. “Adult [treatment-resistant depression] research has begun to explore repeated administrations of ketamine, which may have promise for greater effectiveness and longer remission periods than single […]
Ketamine has been shown to work much faster, with effects that last much longer, than current antidepressants (SSRIs) 40% of teens do not respond to their first round of SSRIs, lowering their chance of achieving remission Recently, ketamine has gained traction as an alternative to antidepressants The University of Michigan researchers say their study is […]
New Rochelle, NY, August 1, 2018–A new study has shown a significant average decrease in the Children’s Depression Rating Scale (42.5%) among adolescents with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) who were treated with intravenous ketamine. The study, which demonstrated the tolerability and potential role of ketamine as a treatment option for adolescents with TRD, is published in Journal […]