KETAMINE KOs DEPRESSION!
More effective than electroshock
AGROUNDBREAKING study suggests ketamine — a non-narcotic anesthetic sometimes used as a hallucinogenic party drug — is better for alleviating severe depression than controversial electroshock treatments!
A three-week trial sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, which involved 365 patients, determined ketamine intravenously administered three times a week was more effective than nine total electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) sessions in individuals who hadn’t previously responded to at least two antidepressants.
At the study’s conclusion, 55 percent of the ketamine group and 41 percent of the ECT group reported a 50 percent or greater reduction in troubling symptoms.
“The results were very surprising to us,” admits researcher Dr. Amit Anand of Harvard Medical School.
The scientists also observed ketamine was easier to administer, with fewer adjustments needed during treatment, which meant fewer patients dropped out. What’s more, the medication displayed fewer side effects than mind-zapping ECT, which potentially causes memory loss.
During ECT, which is typically administered up to 12 times over four weeks, small electric currents are passed through the noggin of a patient under general anesthesia to trigger a brief seizure. The therapy is believed to cause changes in brain chemistry, which can reverse symptoms of certain mental health conditions — but some consider the practice barbaric.
The nasal spray esketamine is the only ketamine-containing product currently approved by the FDA for depression and is prescribed in conjunction with other drugs.
Experts believe ketamine eases the blues by targeting glutamate, a chemical affecting brain cell growth and function.
University of Toronto’s Dr. Roger S. McIntyre, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology who was not involved in the breakthrough study, calls it “very clinically meaningful.”