Ketamine for Depression: The Most Important Advance in Field in 50 Years?

Time Healthland ^ | 10-05-2012 | Maia Szalavitz

[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....

[bigheadfred]

Since my chance of winning the lottery is reeeeally low, I think I’ll try the ketamine...Waiter!!!!

[KGeorge]

I was thinking veterinary anesthetic (like for spays/ neuters), too.

What is wrong with the mental health community that instead of helping people come up with a way to resolve or deal with whatever is *making* them depressed (chemical causes excepted, of course), they drug them with stuff that often makes them worse (or adds other problems)?
Cope not dope (whenever possible).

(I’ve always thought that sedation for a day or 2 would help with quitting smoking)

[ninonitti]

You also develop a taste for oats........

[tomkat]

You seem to be decrying the 'a pill for every emotion/ache/pain' mindset that seems so prevalent these days.
And there's no doubt that over-medication causes myriad personal and societal problems - many unnecessarily - whether the 'prescription' comes from an MD or over the counter.
But then again, maybe it's merely our limited historical experience bearing on the question, as folks have been reaching for 'something' since time immemorial.

What I hope you're not saying is that clinical depression is simply a haywire emotion in need of God, or some electively dodgy behavior remedied only by same ?

Not trying to be argumentative, just attempting to reel us back in toward the original thread topic.

Depression is as real as a tumor eating one alive inside .. capable of robbing one of much hope of life-buoying optimism, or of seeing the sky in more than various shades of grey.

Is it over-diagnosed in our chronically excuse-making America ?
Most certainly, by many scammers of many flavors on both the doctor and patient sides of the prescription pad.

And horse tranquilizer does seem a bit much on first glance . . hopefully, time & legitimate research will tell the tale in the end.
Bread mold probably seemed an absurdly far-fetched candidate for reducing battlefield wound infection mortality . . .

(and that's about all the typing i intend doing this weekend .. LOL)

[James C. Bennett]

Depression is a serious mental disorder and for some people suffering from it, chemicals which induce behavioral changes by directly influencing their brain are a saving grace, without which they would be too suicidal / disruptive to prevent themselves from being harmed, along with others. I have seen enough such cases in my life to know how many lives have been saved by anti-depressant medications.

[ladyjane]

I might point out that winning the Lottery removes depression for as long as the money holds out.

Actually, I don't think that is true. Depression is more about brain chemistry than it is about external events.

[bigheadfred]

You also develop a taste for oats........

With molasses. I can't stand oats without a litle molasses. But when I was a kid and into grandma's Gravy Train I definitely preferred that dry.

[bigheadfred]

Someone else has pointed out they use it to paralyze horses before they castrate them. Seems like a good idea.

[jwalsh07]

God bless your son and those like him.

[Jemian]

I use Soma, not for depression, but to help relieve the muscles surrounding two ruptured disks.

Is there something I should know about this drug?

[arasina]

My son was seriously injured in Afghanistan 18 months ago, and he was kept in a coma for 8 days with ketamine. I thought it was for the pain, since just about every bone in his lower back down to his toes was broken.

Whatever it was for, the outcome in the end was fine. But when he did come around, there were some very weird things coming out of his mouth!

I hope he has recovered completely. God bless him!

[Jemian]

Whoa! You are the second person to mention Soma. That is not ketamine; it is carisoprodol. It doesn’t help depression, at least in me, nor does it cause it.

Is my research faulty?

[tomkat]

No Jem, sorry for the confusion.

'Soma' was a cure-all sort of narcotic something or other given to the 'citizens' in Aldous Huxley's apocalyptic novel 'Brave New World'.

Here, from Wiki:

In the book, soma is a hallucinogen that takes users on enjoyable, hangover-free "holidays".
It was developed by the World State to provide these inner-directed personal experiences within a socially managed context of State-run 'religious' organizations; social clubs.
The hypnopaedically inculcated affinity for the State-produced drug, as a self-medicating comfort mechanism in the face of stress or discomfort,
  thereby eliminates the need for religion or other personal allegiances outside or beyond the World State.

[WildHighlander57]

I must put my two cents in here.....
I have gone thru rough times, and thanks to the grace of God have not had the need for what I call ‘happy pills’.

Many of my friends have, and I have concerns for them.

They aren’t religious, and that is a HUGE component of one’s well being.

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

[grumpa]

I tried St John’s Wort when I had mild depression and concluded that it did not work at all.

[Jemian]

Thank you for the clarification. Soma, carisoprodol, can be habit forming and I don’t take it regularly. But, I try to keep some with me constantly because my back pain is debilitating.

Now, you have found me out. I haven’t read Huxley and so wasn’t familiar with the context.

Thanks.

[informavoracious]

Anti-depressants are not "happy pills." It is good that you have never needed psychotropic medication. Through the grace of God, scientists have compounded substances that correct biochemical disruptions. Years ago, people with some mental illnesses that can now be treated with medicine would have been hospital patients, raging alcoholics, or bodies in the morgue from suicide. Instead, they lead productive lives.

Would you tell a diabetic that they would not need insulin if they had a better relationship with the Lord? Or a cancer patient that they should just pray the pain away? Clinical depression differs from situational depression. It does not have to be triggered by events in one's life.

I am glad you never needed medication. I hope, to God, neither you nor anyone you love ever does.

[bramps]

You need to take it for several weeks before it has an effect. And you MUST take the right dosage split up during the day. That's why I suggested the solaray brand that is meant to be taken twice a day (morning and night). Been using it for years. No side effects at all, and it does work for both sleep and mild depression.

[Private_Sector_Does_It_Better]

I ruptured one disk about 20 years ago. Pain worse than any sane person can imagine. I thought I was tough until this happened. Cried like a baby. God bless you having endured two.

[Ken H]

This is what they use to tranquilize horses, right? So a good dose removes depression for 10 days by rendering you unconscious for that period.

Actually, it works by restoring your equinimity:)