Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

A Randomized Trial of an N-methyl-D-aspartate Antagonist in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression

Zarate CA, Singh JB, Carlson PJ, et al. · Archives of General Psychiatry, 2006

This small study from the National Institute of Mental Health asked whether a single dose of ketamine could lift depression quickly. Eighteen adults with depression that had not responded to earlier treatments took part in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design, receiving one intravenous ketamine infusion and one placebo infusion a week apart. In this study, people improved within about two hours of ketamine compared with placebo, and the difference held through the following week. The day after the infusion, 71% met criteria for response and 29% for remission, and 35% kept their response for at least a week. An honest limitation: the sample was very small, there was no psychotherapy component, and the effect faded for most participants within days.

Our summaries describe what each study found. They are not medical advice, and the practices at Halcyon are not a treatment for any condition.