CureusMarch 30, 2022Carolina Sepulveda Ramos, Matthew P. Thornburg, Kelly A Long et al.9 citations
Ketamine, a non-competitive N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist, is commonly used as an anesthetic and analgesic but has recently shown promising research in treating certain psychiatric conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicidal ideation, and substance use disorder. Due to its euphoric, dissociative, and hallucinogenic properties, ketamine has been...
Five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have compared racemic ketamine, mostly administered intravenously in the dose of 0.5 mg/kg across 40-45 minutes, with right unilateral or bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). These RCTs were conducted in samples of severely ill patients with mostly unipolar depression (with or without psychotic features) who were referred for ECT. Of these, 2 RCTs...
Ketamine plus mindfulness psychotherapy was more effective for sustained abstinence from alcohol than placebo plus alcohol psychoeducation. Other combinations of these therapies were not significantly different from one another in this small pilot trial (N=20-25 in each group). Adverse effects were minimal, suggesting that current alcohol use is not a contraindication for consideration of...
Ketamine is a dissociative drug that has been used medically since the 1970s primarily as an anesthetic agent but also for various psychiatric applications. Anecdotal reports and clinical research suggest substantial potential for ketamine as a treatment in conjunction with psychological interventions. Here, we review historical and modern approaches to the use of ketamine with psychotherapy,...
Strategically timed trauma- and attachment-informed psychotherapy to address underlying emotional wounds, paired with ketamine administered in precision-calibrated doses to ensure high-entropy brain states, may be key to improving the quality and duration of ketamine’s therapeutic efficacy for treatment-resistant depression. This approach optimizes the opportunities for change created by...
The approval of ketamine for treatment-resistant depression has created a model for a novel class of rapid-acting glutamatergic antidepressants. Recent research into other novel rapid-acting antidepressants – most notably serotonergic psychedelics (SPs) – has also proven promising. Presently, the mechanisms of action of these substances are under investigation to improve these novel treatments,...
Editorial| May 2022 Ketamine Analgesia and Psychedelia: Can We Dissociate Dissociation? George A. Mashour, M.D., Ph.D. George A. Mashour, M.D., Ph.D. Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Author and Article Information Accepted for publication February 11, 2022....
Recently, the abuse of ketamine has soared. Therefore, it is of great importance to study its potential risks. The effects of prolonged ketamine on the brain can be observationally studied in chronic recreational users. We performed a systematic review of studies reporting functional and structural brain changes after repeated ketamine abuse. We searched the following electronic databases:...
Background Preclinical studies have indicated that the ketamine metabolite ( 2R,6R )-hydroxynorketamine (HNK) is a rapid-acting antidepressant drug with limited dissociation properties and low abuse potential. However, its effects and molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this work, we examined the involvement of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB)...
Eating disorders (EDs) are serious, life-threatening psychiatric conditions associated with physical and psychosocial impairment, as well as high morbidity and mortality. Given the chronic refractory nature of EDs and the paucity of evidence-based treatments, there is a pressing need to identify novel approaches for this population. The noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAr)...