Ketamine no better than placebo at alleviating depression, unusual trial finds
Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic and sometimes recreational drug that causes people to feel dissociated from their own bodies. Recent studies suggest the drug may help treat people with depression who have tried more conventional treatments without success. But there are major questions about what makes it work. Is it the weird dissociative experience? Some molecular effect on the brain? Or just the experience of being in a clinical trial? In a new study that is yet to be peer reviewed, researchers attempted to find the answer in a unique way: They gave volunteers ketamine while they were under general anesthesia, theoretically preventing the participants from going on a trip. The approach alleviated the subjects’ depression, but not any better than a placebo did. ...