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From Popular Anesthetic to Antidepressant, Ketamine Isn’t the Drug You Think It Is

Ketamine’s use as an anesthetic — and not as a party drug — is widespread, though not commonly known. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates ketamine is the most widely used anesthetic in the world and keeps it on their list of essential medicines, a category of drugs that all developed countries should have on hand. But it wasn’t until the 1990s that what could turn out to be ketamine’s most important function was discovered. A team from Yale University School of Medicine was examining the role of glutamate, a common neurotransmitter, in depression, and discovered something remarkable: ketamine could rapidly relieve depression symptoms.

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Elon Musk says ketamine can get you out of a ‘negative frame of mind’. What does the research say?

Ketamine is thought to change chemicals in the brain that affect mood. While the exact way ketamine works on the brain is not known, scientists think it changes the amount of the neurotransmitter glutamate and therefore changes symptoms of depression.

Ketamine Depression Treatment Passes Another Trial, But Isn’t For Everyone

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Ketamine Stirs Up Hope—and Controversy—as a Depression Drug

This is why there's so much excitement around ketamine. It offers relief to many patients who previously didn't respond to anything. When it works, the drug acts within hours, not weeks, which makes it especially promising for patients at risk of suicide. And because it targets a different neurotransmitter system—not serotonin but glutamate—it's giving scientists new insight into the biology of depression.

Ketamine: The illicit party psychedelic that promises to heal depression

It’s been 50 years in the making, but the anaesthetic and illicit party drug ketamine is now having a clinical comeback. New studies show that this commonly used anaesthetic can provide quick relief of core symptoms associated with severe depression, including suicidal ideation. Amazingly, ketamine works within hours and its effects are maintained for at least one week. Most strikingly, ketamine is effective in those patients who are resistant to ordinary antidepressants, and they make up around 30 to 50 per cent of the depressed population.

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Six Years Later, Ketamine Remains ‘Miracle’ Drug for Patient with Severe Depression

Facing another “roller coaster” ordeal of new medications and treatments for her ongoing severe depression, Houston realtor Kim Crespo was desperate for anything that would help her debilitating condition. She found it at Harris Health System’s Ben Taub Hospital in the unlikely treatment of ketamine, a version of the popular club drug (known on the street as K, Special K or kit kat) from the ‘80s and ‘90s. Following a six-week treatment in 2012, her depression was gone. Six years later, she still praises the drug’s lasting effects and calls it a “miracle” drug for helping her.