Ketamine For Depression

Ketamine got its start in Belgium in the 1960s as an anesthesia medicine for animals. The FDA approved it as an anesthetic for people in 1970. It was used in treating injured soldiers on the battlefields in the Vietnam War. 

Emergency responders may give it to an agitated patient who, for example, they have rescued from a suicide attempt. That’s how Ken Stewart, MD, says doctors began to realize that the drug had powerful effects against depression and suicidal thoughts.

“Someone is trying to jump off a bridge, and they give him ketamine in the ambulance to calm him down, and 9 months later, he says, ‘I haven’t felt suicidal for 9 months.

Ketamine is an unusual type of psychedelic drug—called a dissociative—that has surged in popularity. It reliably produces pain control, forgetfulness, intoxication, disassociation, and euphoria, effects that underlie its medical and recreational uses.

Originally derived from PCP, or “angel dust,” ketamine has been used in hospitals and veterinary clinics as an anesthetic for decades. It’s also been cited as a drug of misuse under the moniker “special K.”

More recently, it has been widely used for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) — that is, severe depression that has not improved with several other therapies, including people who are experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Thanks to an interesting loophole in the laws governing drug advertising, ketamine is now marketed for the management of any number of different psychiatric illnesses. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic pain are the big ones, but it’s also being marketed for other uses, ranging from Lyme disease to alcoholism to opioid addiction. As is often the case, enthusiasm and marketing have gotten ahead of the evidence.