Ketamine Can Help Lower Suicide Risk: Research

A small trial finds that ketamine or "Special K" can be used to lift mood of severely depressed people and lower suicide risk.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of New South Wales. Researchers found that dose-response trial of intravenous ketamine was effective in lowering depression in people who weren't responding to other medication for the condition.

The research was conducted on four patients. Although the patients reported fewer depression symptoms after taking the drug, all relapsed within a week.

Ketamine is a white, crystalline powder or clear liquid developed in 1962. It was initially marketed as a general anesthetic. The drug hit the streets in the 1970s.

"This is a game-changer in treating depression," said UNSW Professor Colleen Loo, who is the lead author of the study. "The real advantage here is that the effect is almost instantaneous and that it appears to work on the majority of patients."

This isn't the first time that researchers have found the anti-depressant effects of ketamine. Recently, a University of Oxford study had found that the drug can be in people who have major depression disorder.

"Ketamine powerfully reverses structural changes in the brain that occur when someone is depressed. In a sense, the treatment is repairing or reversing those changes," Professor Loo said in a news release.

Few major advantages of using lower doses of the drug is that it has immediate effects and can be used with other medications, researchers at UNSW said. Other anti-depressants take around eight weeks to become fully effective.

According to the researchers, this is the first time that a study has looked at how different doses of the drug affect people with depression. The research builds on Loo's earlier work on the same subject. Loo's lab has been testing the effects of Ketamine in a group of 19 patients from the past three years.

"While this is a small trial, the results are significant," said Professor Loo. "These people are treatment resistant, so even a temporary reprieve is important."

The study is published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.