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Ketamine: Antidepressant wonder drug

There is a new press release making the rounds today from the National Institute of Mental Health about ketamine, and how it is the key to creating a whole new class of antidepressants that work in hours to relieve depression. This release, and all news reports which have followed, are quick to point out that ketamine itself has unwanted side-effects, such as hallucinations at higher doses, that would rule out its use in treatment, so alternative drugs that target the same receptors are being explored. But doesn't this sound like a cop-out to you? Many OTC and prescription drugs also become dissociative hallucinogens at high enough doses (alcohol, DXM, diphenhydramine, valium, morphine, etc.), and ketamine is in wide recreational use already as -- what else? -- an anti-depressant (because it makes you feel good). It seems to me that research science has finally caught up with the miracle that is special K, but they have, once again, totally missed the point.
Posted By jamesk at 2007-07-24 18:05:37 permalink | comments
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geenastarr. : 2009-09-12 03:29:43
To each his/her own! Many people will always slam their drugs, while many will always simply try to work with doctors in finding the correct dosage that will offer both relief and added functionality to their lives. I have always been in this category..:)
jamesk : 2007-07-25 12:01:48
Any drug which targets the same receptors as Ketamine will be psychoactive at some dose above that which causes anxiolytic or antidepressant effects. This is not a question of unwanted side effects, it is a question of dosage and abuse, which is a problem for any prescription drug that is potentially psychoactive. Ketamine has already been proven to be safe at anesthetic doses, any analog they come up with will have to go through years of testing and clinical trials before it is approved, and then it will be abused by teens as well. Just a prediction based on historical record.
Scotto : 2007-07-25 09:55:28
I've always found low, sub-dissociative doses of ketamine to have mood-elevating properties. At that level, you're not particularly that far out, certainly not as far out as on 250 ml I.M.
omgoleus : 2007-07-24 21:41:56
As for jamesk's point about missing the point... that's the big pitfall of a reductionist model. If it causes hallucinations and makes you happy, then by gum we just need to separate the part that causes hallucinations from the part that makes you happy!
amazingdrx : 2007-07-24 19:59:27
Maybe it's just me, but the last thing I'd ever associate ketamine with would be anti-depressant properties. I mean, when you've just slammed 250 ml in an I.M. injection, and you're out there beyond good and evil - way beyond good and evil - I find that I need some MDMA just to take the edge off the existential meaningless of it all.

But perhaps I'm weird that way.

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