Ketamine for depression and bipolar disorders

During the 1990s, the brief popularity of all-night (and in some cases multiday) raves led to a national panic over club drugs. The federal government staged elaborate crackdowns on ecstasy (known colloquially as E and in the lab as MDMA, short for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) and an anesthetic called ketamine (or K)...

Now it turns out that both ecstasy and ketamine may have healing qualities. On Aug. 2, the esteemed Archives of General Psychiatry published the results of a randomized, controlled trial hailing ketamine as a promising treatment for depression among patients with bipolar disorder.

Also, recent testimony from one of our commenters, Stephanie, also makes the case for ketamine as a therapeutic agent:

my son, who has suffered with extreme symptoms of bipolar disorder for 7 years has tried ketamine as a nasal spray and it has been nothing short of a miracle. It has been three months now and all anxiety and mood swings are GONE. he says he feels at peace for the first time in his life. He has gone from sitting in his room all day with anxiety to driving again, and enjoying life as a normal human being. Kudos to Dr. Zarate for his research. My son is being treated by a psychiatrist in NYC who has the courage to inform us of this medication alternative. He has 14 patients all of whom have had the EXACT same positive reaction from nasal spray whose effects last for up to a week. However it works it is correcting the problem and not masking it like the 10 other meds he took and is coming off on. It was discovered accidentally by one of his patients who underwent dental work and was administered Ketamine as an anesthetic and for a week became symptom free. there is no hallucinogenic effect as the dose is low... It has been 18 months for the first patient to try it with the same results and no side effects... Do not be skeptical... This is a major breakthrough that has changed my son's life... He has said that all those meds and 7 years of therapy were rendered totally useless by one application of nasal ketamine.