Ketamine proved to be an extremely fast and effective antidepressant
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Drug and anesthetic, ketamine proved to be an extremely fast and effective antidepressant, which within an hour reduces depression and suppresses suicidal mood in patients with manic-depressive psychosis.
Everyone knows that bipolar disorder (manic-depressive psychosis) is characterized by changes in the opposite affective states, manic and depressive. Depression in this case is so long and deep that it can lead to suicide. Patients, of course, are prescribed antidepressants for this case, but, unfortunately, modern drugs do not have instant action, and a person should take them for weeks to feel the effect. In addition, different antidepressants work differently, and the patient sometimes has to experiment with drugs for a long time to understand what exactly suits him.
In an article published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, a team of researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health (USA) reports that it found a fast and effective tool that helps with depressive periods during bipolar disorder. His name is ketamine, a means for anesthesia and concurrently a drug-dissociative.
Patients were given a single dose of ketamine, after which they observed their condition for several days. It turned out that the symptoms of depression noticeably weaken during the first 40 minutes and stay at a reduced level for three more days. Ketamine was assisted by 79% of the patients who took it (no one in the control placebo group had any changes in the condition).
In addition, ketamine significantly weakened suicidal moods, which was also noted during the first hour after admission.
According to doctors, this speed of action of conventional antidepressants did not even dream, so that ketamine, most likely, will soon enter into this quality in everyday clinical practice. Particularly noteworthy is that for a noticeable positive effect, a single injection was sufficient; for a substance with such an ambiguous reputation is important. On the other hand, the mechanism of action of ketamine is known, so it may be possible to create an analogue of it, which will have an antidepressant effect without any doubtful side effects of the narcotic.
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