A ketamine nasal spray has shown promise in rapidly treating the symptoms of major depression and suicidal thoughts. The recent study published online in The American Journal of Psychiatry a double-blind trial compared the standard treatment in addition to a placebo for rapid depression treatment and suicidal thoughts.
Read on to find out further information about the study and the findings researchers uncovered.
The Study
The study involved 68 participants, and each were randomly assigned to two groups, one group received ketamine or a placebo twice a week for one month. All of the participants continued to receive treatment with antidepressants throughout the trial. The researchers looked at the effects at four hours after first treatment and again at 24 hours and 25 days later.
The Results:
The results of the study support nasal ketamine as a possible effective rapid treatment for depression symptoms in people at risk for suicide. Ketamine may be an important treatment to bridge the gap which exists because of delayed effects of the most common antidepressants. Most of these medications take about four to six weeks to become fully effective in the body.
Conclusion of the Study:
In conclusion, while it is the responsibility of physicians to provide a suicidal patient with a full range of treatments and interventions, ketamine definitely shows promise and offers hope for new options. While researchers are hopeful that effective controls on the distribution and controls on ketamine it will prevent a new drug epidemic.
The lead researcher and his colleagues argue that steps need to be taken to control the use of ketamine, but it should not be aimed at allowing it for treatment to “continue to be available to those with need, while the population that is at risk for abuse is protected from an epidemic of abuse and misuse.
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