Aims: Recreational ketamine use and treatment-seeking for associated complications is increasing in England. Complications of ketamine dependence can be debilitating, leading to continued dependence and surgical intervention. However, treatment remains under-researched, with lacking understanding of those seeking treatment or requiring specialist inpatient detoxification. This study aims to...
Les troubles liés à l’usage de substances (TUS) touchent environ 2 % de la population mondiale et sont associés à une morbidité importante ainsi qu’à un risque de rechute élevé. Les envies impérieuses (le craving), définies comme une envie intense de consommer une substance, constituent une caractéristique centrale et transdiagnostique des TUS et représentent un prédicteur clé de rechute. Les...
Ketamine is increasingly used in clinical settings for mental health and pain management, yet its misuse poses public health risks. While prior studies have examined ketamine trends, few have explored its use among individuals receiving treatment for substance use disorders (SUD). Using 2021-2023 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), we analyzed the association between...
Summary This case report presents the case of a 25-year-old woman who developed ketamine addiction following a single sub-anaesthetic dose of intranasal ketamine in a pilot study investigating intranasal racemic ketamine for acute suicidality. She had a history of depression, obsessive–compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder and anorexia nervosa, and she had sporadically used alcohol and...
Behavioral SciencesMarch 24, 2026J. Richard Kendrick, Ghonwa Ahmad, Audrey Wood et al.
The use of ketamine for the management of neuropsychiatric conditions outside clinical settings has rapidly expanded, creating a critical need to understand diverse individual experiences. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of posts from the r/TherapeuticKetamine subreddit. From 3302 threads, the 500 highest-engagement threads (12,852 comments) were analyzed by independent coders...
Bloy et al. [1] provide an important and methodologically rigorous secondary analysis of the Ketamine for the reduction of Alcoholic Relapse (KARE) trial, examining whether acute psychoactive effects mediate the therapeutic impact of ketamine in alcohol use disorder (AUD). Their finding that dissociative and perceptual effects did not mediate abstinence outcomes is clinically relevant, and...
Recent retrospective analyses have shown that individuals with comorbid Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) are overrepresented among responders to ketamine for Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD). Ketamine is an effective treatment for depression and also a potential substance of misuse. The authors contrast a mechanistic pathway with a possible expectancy effect to account for these findings, and...
HealthcareMarch 3, 2026Paul Lie, Titus Lie, Madeleine Nguyen et al.1 citation
This narrative literature review explores the clinical use of Ketamine as part of an untested hypothetical model framework for bridge therapy for acute suicidality. Long-term suicide rates continue to increase in the United States and in many other countries, creating a pressing public health challenge with a variety of treatment considerations. Existing standard-of-care SSRI therapeutics have...
SVOA Medical ResearchMarch 2, 2026Olumuyiwa A. Bamgbade, Olumide O. Asaolu, Daniel O. Bamgbade et al.
Background: Chronic pain is complicated by comorbid substance misuse. This multifaceted problem increases the risks of polypharmacy, overdose, impaired driving, and avoidable emergency care. Methods: This is an observational study of a convenience sample of twenty adult chronic pain patients who underwent regular monthly intramuscular ketamine for multimodal pain therapy. Ketamine was...
Background: Effective pharmacotherapies for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) are lacking, and factors such as sex, drinking patterns, and timing of treatment during the addiction cycle may influence treatment efficacy. Clinical studies suggest that ketamine may be effective in AUD; however, preclinical findings have been inconclusive, likely due to varying rodent strains, intake protocols, and...