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Ketamine for Depression: The Most Important Advance in Field in 50 Years?
Time Healthland ^ | 10-05-2012 | Maia Szalavitz

Posted on 10/06/2012 4:37:30 PM PDT by Renfield

In any given year, 7% of adults suffer from major depression, and at least 1 in 10 youth will reckon with the disorder at some point during their teenage years. But about 20% of these cases will not respond to current treatments; for those that do, relief may take weeks to months to come.

There is one treatment, however, that works much faster: the anesthetic and “club drug” ketamine. It takes effect within hours. A single dose of ketamine produces relief of depression that has been shown in studies to last for up to 10 days; it also appears to reduce symptoms of bipolar disorder and suicidal thoughts. Now, a new research review published in Science calls the discovery of these effects of ketamine, “”arguably the most important discovery in half a century” of depression research....

(Excerpt) Read more at healthland.time.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: depression; ketamine; medicine; pharmaceuticals
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To: kevslisababy

I’m so sorry to hear you son was injured. I hope he recovers quickly and does well. I appreciate his service.


41 posted on 10/06/2012 7:49:19 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: James C. Bennett

My sister committed suicide so don’t tell me you KNOW how many lives were SAVED by anti-depressant medication. YOU don’t know. Scientists DON’T know. YOU GUESS. Scientists KNOW those drugs are TOXIC to the body and damages it. You can’t put toxins in the body with NO negative results. How many people have killed other people and themselves while ON medication. You leave that little tidbit out-—conveniently......kind of like the “evil of guns” argument——not counting the millions of lives saved by just having that “evil” gun.

True—there are some brains in need of medication-—but you can MEASURE that. MOST times, “depression” is the result of subjective analysis-—ALL physical examinations will not show up ANYTHING physical.

All the medical mumble jumble-—most problems—are either because of toxins in the body (probably from vaccinations)==which can be measured-—or inadequate diet and no exercise—or because of childhood trauma-—not dealing with fundamental issues of life—most likely character flaws.

BTW, science is all about assumptions-—most of which try to cover up all relevant symptoms so the doctors *SEEM* to *know* what they are talking about.

Now, I am not talking about all pills and doctors that deal with broken bones and such-—things which CAN be KNOWN. That is completely different.

I am talking about the fraudulent *science* of psychology. Most psychologists are quacks. Some are excellent-—but they *know* that they don’t know everything and they understand psychoanalysis and the power of the brain WITHOUT drugging it.

Only God removes fear and can replace it with *hope*. True—many times desperate people need help-—but pills only cover-up and delay the problem and damage the body in the meantime and create more problems and fears.

Have you *ever* counted all the pills that seniors take? I have-—it is staggering......been conditioned by the marketing.

My grandparents didn’t need any *medication* and they lived to be in their eighties and were active until their quick death. Of course, they were not filled with all the toxins from vaccinations and taking pills for aches and pains which collect in the body and they were active (farming) for most of their lives-—no GMO foods, corn syrup in everything, soda pop was rare, and they had non floridated water (well water).


42 posted on 10/06/2012 8:33:52 PM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: bigheadfred

Well, yeah, but :wince: (My grandmother grew up on a ranch. I’m workin’ on it, but still a city girl so far)


43 posted on 10/06/2012 8:43:10 PM PDT by KGeorge
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To: savagesusie
All the medical mumble jumble-—most problems—are either because of toxins in the body (probably from vaccinations)==which can be measured-—or inadequate diet and no exercise—or because of childhood trauma-—not dealing with fundamental issues of life—most likely character flaws

Only God removes fear and can replace it with *hope*.

Psychological problems run rampant in socialist societies. Or at least problems that people label "psychological".

Is it a coincidence that these are Godless societies? I think not.

When you attempt to remove God from society, hope dissipates ...societal and familial bonds are damaged and broken. Depression results. And psychologists make fortunes by attributing these problems to different causes.

I am amazed how many people can't figure this out.

44 posted on 10/06/2012 8:55:46 PM PDT by what's up
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To: Jemian
She is referring to a fictional drug from “Brave New World” I think. Not to the muscle relaxant which is (IMHO) a gift from God when there is a major weather system change.
45 posted on 10/06/2012 9:12:32 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Fate plays chess and you don't find out until too late that he's been using two queens all along)
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To: ladyjane
Actually, I don't think that is true.

You may have a point there. If being 'rich' made people happy, then why do some many of the 'rich and famous' commit suicide in one way or another? Is it because material possessions aren't the key to happiness?

Depression is more about brain chemistry than it is about external events.

I agree that an imbalance in brain chemistry, or defect in it can cause depression. However, if one has no 'medical' problem, they can still be afflicted with depression. That type of depression usually comes from external events.

So... maybe the best answer is that we are both correct, and it depends on the person.

46 posted on 10/06/2012 9:48:29 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 ( If you think I'm crazy, just wait until you talk to my invisible friend.)
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To: Private_Sector_Does_It_Better

I have arranged things in my life that I can spend a significant portion of the time lying down. That keeps me fairly pain free and from needing drugs every day. I limit my activities to short bursts. I don’t go to sports events, concerts or hikes.

But I do a little gardening, go to church, and half-hour grocery shopping.

I am so glad Al Gore invented the internet, I would be stark-raving mad without it. Things could be much worse and there are many people in worse shape than me. I can manage.


47 posted on 10/06/2012 9:49:31 PM PDT by Jemian
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To: savagesusie
How many people have killed other people and themselves while ON medication.

The cdc says about 11% of the population takes antidepressants. And yet, the murder rate in the US has been steadily declining for the last 20+ years. It is as low now as it was in the early 1960s. Suicide rates have also fallen in the US, and were lower in 2005 than in 1950, 1960 and 1970.

I don't think you have much of a case.

____________________________________________________________

Sources:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/10/20/141544135/look-around-1-in-10-americans-take-antidepressants

Suicide rates 1950-2005: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0779940.html

Murder rates 1960-2010: http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

48 posted on 10/06/2012 10:22:43 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: Renfield

shock treatments were done for the exact same reason.....


49 posted on 10/06/2012 10:33:58 PM PDT by cherry
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To: Jemian
IIRC Soma was the drug of choice in the book "Brave New World".........

in moderan times, its a simple muscle relaxant....I'm not even sure how good.....naprosyn works better for me with all my arthritic joints and herniated discs as Lortab etc...

50 posted on 10/06/2012 10:38:02 PM PDT by cherry
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To: what's up
Comparing US and Dutch stats... In 2009, the suicide rate in the US was 12.0/100,000; for the Netherlands 8.5/100,000. Comparing murder rates, it was 4.2/100,000 in the US, 1.1/100,000 in the Netherlands.

Perhaps the Dutch are a more moral and religious people than Americans?

_____________________________________________________________

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

51 posted on 10/06/2012 10:49:35 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: Ken H

Excuse me——anything that compares the decades of sick Keynesian economics salted with degenerates like Kinsey and Hefner and Freud ethics——has to compare statistics to BEFORE the “sex revolution” which kicked out God and showered our children with nihilism and the Age of Relativism so they couldn’t even think straight when they reached adulthood in the sixties.

You are comparing a Godless age to a Godless age. The stats are meaningless (as Twain would state about any “stats”).

Get Suicide and Murder Rates and percentage of people on “antidepressants” from PRIOR to the sixties——when people like my father carried guns to school and never had hardly any “pills”.

...before the ethics of that Pedophile, Atheist Kinsey and sodomite John Maynard Keynes who raped little boys, and Atheist Freud’s and Hefner’s ideology was literally forced down the throats (deeply) into ALL public school children to erase morality and God with the help of Hollywood and marketing.

My point is when there is a belief in God-—there is hardly any reason for pills for so-called psychological disorders which are nothing but lack of character and lack of control over base instincts (immaturity)-—so they get all sorts of emotional trauma because of their very immature actions.

As Socrates profoundly stated: Knowledge is Virtue; Ignorance is Vice.

He meant that since ALL people want to be Happy-—they would all be Virtuous if they knew how. That knowledge-—of Excellence (Virtue)-—leads to great emotional and physical health and happiness. (no depression).

Vice destroys all chance of happiness. The psychiatric wards are filled with people who have never been virtuous. Only God gives Hope. Otherwise, there is no meaning to life and you are nothing and will have a short, brutal, nasty life or whatever Hobbs stated so succinctly when he described our world, as all atheists would.


52 posted on 10/06/2012 10:54:24 PM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: Renfield

I tried ketamine a few times in powder....snorted.....35 years ago

Found it a goofy somewhat psychoactive tranquilizer

Not a mood elevator...to me anyhow

We called it Space Dust.....i recall being at Kincannon dorm at Ole Miss and we’re all rrying to pee.....laughing like in slow mo time warp for 20 minutes

Go to a vet....watch a cat on op table under high dosage....eyes wide open but kitty is actually on Pluto.....get the picture


53 posted on 10/06/2012 10:56:41 PM PDT by wardaddy (my wife prays in the tanning bed....guess what region i live in...ya'll?)
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To: Ken H

No—the Dutch are dependent on government for everything. They do not have to face the hardships of being free which is always way more stressful than having mommy and daddy take care of you from cradle to grave.

The Dutch lost their soul and freedom decades ago and they will all be bowing to Allah soon.


54 posted on 10/06/2012 11:00:11 PM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: savagesusie
Get Suicide and Murder Rates and percentage of people on “antidepressants” from PRIOR to the sixties

I don't have the stats on antidepressants, but can we agree the numbers are nowhere near today's 11% figure? Repeating, the suicide rate in 2005 was lower than in 1950 or 1960. Here are more historical murder stats...

According to FBI analysis, the homicide drop would mean that nearly 280 fewer Americans were murdered last year, which would be the lowest homicide death toll since the mid-1950s.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/11/12170947-fbi-violent-crime-rates-in-the-us-drop-approach-historic-lows?lite

____________________________________________________________ 

Now check out 'Figure 4' on page 7 at the link below for homicide rates from 1910-1944. The homicide rate in 2010 was lower than EVERY SINGLE YEAR from 1911 to 1944!

http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/alcohol-prohibition-was-failure?

55 posted on 10/06/2012 11:47:15 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: savagesusie
No—the Dutch are dependent on government for everything. They do not have to face the hardships of being free which is always way more stressful than having mommy and daddy take care of you from cradle to grave.

So socialism leads to lower rates of murder and suicide because cradle to grave security is less stressful.

Are you sure you don't want to rethink that?

56 posted on 10/07/2012 12:07:28 AM PDT by Ken H
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To: informavoracious

I said at the end of my post:

“Get that settled and squared away, and THEN see if there is a need for meds.”

I never said NO meds.

I’ve seen many of my friends take meds for situational depression, and by virtue of them getting better to the point of not needing the meds, says a lot about the doctors....

I agree that if it is anything worse than that, then of course take the pills long term.


57 posted on 10/07/2012 12:30:01 AM PDT by WildHighlander57 ((WildHighlander57 returning after lurking since 2000))
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To: Ken H

You are asking ME to agree with government or corporation STATS or any statements or studies done by *research centers* financed by Soros-types or discoveries by our *Free* press?????? Ha——you will see me in hell before I would EVER believe any number or study put out by our Universities (other than Hillsdale) or those Leftist Foundations that control all perceptions of the useful idiots .....since I know all institutions and government in the US were infiltrated by Fabian Socialists in the early 1900’s. I’ve read Whittaker Chambers book, “Witness”, and “Keynes at Harvard”.

Do I really have to drag up Mark Twain and Statistics for you? He knew what was going on with agitprop and HE died in 1910 before Goebbels and Riefenstahl and BF Skinner and Marketing became a major tool in manipulating “feelings” to get you to “feel” what is really the truth.

I took a course on “Science Wars”. I also read Thomas Kuhn’s book. I know all about “truth” and “normal” science and bias.

De-programming is hard-—I know. But it is not impossible. Just throw out all studies done after John Dewey took over the Public School curricula—that Fabian Socialist, who destroyed American education (hopefully, you went to private school, like I did, or was homeschooled). Keynes was sainted and crowned at Harvard U. (maybe because of his sodomy, orgies and obsession with little boys).

All stuff coming out of the Leftist machine is pure ideology-—never science and Truth and it means nothing. It is all about agenda.

They want everyone on drugs. They want to kill off God, so all people are dependent on State. They want no hope, so that the State can be all and do all. They want no mommy and daddy—radical egalitarianism—there is no differences. They want no contamination of children by “parents”. They want strangers and the state to raise your children. It’s all there in Brave New World and 1984. Totalitarianism can not have independent, healthy minds free of drugs.

I believe in Christian individuality—the fact that everyone of us is a child of God and special and there is meaning in our lives. That individuality is what makes people independent, free and self-sufficient/responsible and it is because of a faith in God and Christian Ethics. Government will NOT allow God in our schools and public square. Why do you think they are creating little Marxist, Atheists? (Hint: W. F. Buckley, Jr. tells us in “God and Man at Yale” (1951))

The State only wants slaves (drugged-out minds will work also, and that is the reason for psychiatry, so they can incarcerate anyone they want, just like they do in China and take children away from parents.) Absolute Power over mind and body and control everything the children can think.

Anti-depressants are a tool of Satan-—to remove you from your emotions—so you become detached from reality. Well, if there is NO God—then everyone should want to be detached from reality. We have the State killing off God intentionally-—to destroy Christianity—the most successful, rational religion of all time since it was in line with the Laws of Nature. There is a reason these Leftists and Marx called Christianity a “Crutch”. Because people were *happy* with their lot in life and wouldn’t revolt.


58 posted on 10/07/2012 12:59:21 AM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: savagesusie
You are asking ME to agree with government or corporation STATS or any statements or studies done by *research centers* financed by Soros-types or discoveries by our *Free* press??????

LOL. I'll bet you would have believed them if they had bolstered your case.

You never raised those objections when you asked for stats on murder, suicide and antidepressant in a prior post. The murder stats came from the FBI and the Census Bureau (1910-1944 murder rate). Why ask for those stats if you weren't going to believe them?

59 posted on 10/07/2012 1:43:38 AM PDT by Ken H
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To: savagesusie
Anti-depressants are a tool of Satan-—to remove you from your emotions—so you become detached from reality.

Not quite. I have only seen one person taking antidepressants detached from reality. It was an adverse reaction to them a very bad adverse reaction indeed. A scientific reaction called Serotonin Syndrome. I've also seen them help persons. Both my wife and I can't take any form of antidepressants due to neurological damage. She has clinical depression and please spare me the she needs to get right with GOD sermom. That is not the issue. Far from it in her case. She's had far more on her platter than many likely could ever withstand.

As for me I have what is called General Anxiety Disorder triggered by several life long neurological disorders affecting sensory processing. It is not cureable. But it's non life threatening though. Both of us are long time users of Xanax in her case 27 years in mine close to 18 years now. I thank GOD for Xanax as it allows me to function without continuous seizures. I'm also a former PTSD patient. Several events put me into it the same time the anxiety disorder became a serious issue.

Depression comes from many things it can even be caused by ones thyroid gland or something as simple as a UTI. It can also be ones brain chemistry or even a portion of the brain not functioning properly. The problems in getting finding the origin often come from doctors due to their own time constraints and extensive testing cost placed on the patients end not being able to find the root cause if it can even be found.

I will say this much. Depression along with the meds needs to also be treated with counseling by someone trained in treating depression which takes years in most cases. It may even be life long for some.

60 posted on 10/07/2012 4:01:17 AM PDT by cva66snipe (Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?)
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