A Depression Drug That Researchers Have Called ‘The Most Important Discovery in Half a Century’ Just Got a Big Lift

Ketamine, which has been called “the most important discovery in half a century,” just got a step closer to becoming the first new depression drug in 35 years.  Johnson & Johnson, one of the pharmaceutical companies pursuing the drug’s fast-acting antidepressant qualities, presented some promising new research on Saturday that could raise the drug’s profile as a potential treatment for the condition.  Read more here.

Getting the Inside Dope on Ketamine’s Mysterious Ability to Rapidly Relieve Depression

Ketamine has been called the biggest thing to happen to psychiatry in 50 years, due to its uniquely rapid and sustained antidepressant effects.  However, although there are multiple theories, researchers do not quite know how ketamine combats depression.  It is therefore hoped that new research has uncovered a mechanism that may, in part, explain ketamine’s antidepressant properties.  Read about it here.

Will Psychedelics for Depression be Just Another False Dawn?

Given existing antidepressants don’t work for many people, the excitement surrounding the development of a new class of treatments from recreational drugs such as magic mushrooms is understandable. But there are strong reasons to doubt they will have the kind of impact hoped for. Instead, this article in New Science illustrates that we are more likely to be seeing the latest episode in a long-running saga of repeated disappointment.  Read the full article here.

Inside the Los Angeles Clinic That Uses Ketamine to Treat Depression

From LA Magazine. Advocates are hailing ketamine therapy and its attendant hallucinations as the ultimate brain hack. Prominent doctors and even the stodgy National Institute of Mental Health have championed the treatment as a powerful weapon in the battle against depression, one that could potentially prevent people from taking their own lives. Read the article.

What It’s Like to Have Your Severe Depression Treated With a Hallucinogenic Drug

New York Magazine reports, “Everyone’s depression is different, but Ted, a 40-year-old resident of Portland, Oregon, describes his as a “continuous dark veil — a foul, dark, awful perspective that informs every moment of your whole life.” He’d tried to treat it with antidepressants, therapy, visits to psychiatrists, “the whole nine,” but although the antidepressants kept him functional, they by no means offered relief. He finally got relief from the hallucinogenic drug Ketamine.”  Read the News

Ketamine and Depression: Too Much, Too Soon?

Any new drug that might work faster and have fewer side effects is jumped on by researchers and clinicians alike. The latest drug, heralded by some as a new wonder drug for depression, is ketamine.  But should we roll out it out as a fix for depression?  Read the News

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