Ketamine can rapidly reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress and depression, new study shows
The Conversation, November 8, 2023
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Ketamine (or ketamine) can reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress and symptoms of depression as quickly as one day after injection. That was the main finding of my team's new meta-analysis study, recently published in the scientific journal Annals of Pharmacotherapy.
Ketamine is an anesthetic drug that is sometimes used recreationally, but is increasingly being explored as a form of treatment for a wide range of mental health conditions.
We analyzed six trials, corresponding to 259 patients with moderate or severe post-traumatic stress. In all the trials, around half of the patients were injected with ketamine. The rest received an injection of saline solution or the drug midazolam, from the Xanax family, also used as an anesthetic agent.
Patients treated with ketamine saw their post-traumatic stress symptoms reduced by around 25%, both one day and one week after treatment. The reduction in symptoms of depression was more modest but still significant. In these studies, it remains to be determined how best to maintain these benefits through further injections of ketamine.
What makes these ketamine results so important
Post-traumatic stress disorder, a disabling mental illness, occurs when past traumas trigger flashbacks, nightmares, depression, anxiety or the need to escape from activities that can trigger the traumatic memories. Patients suffering from post-traumatic stress have twice the risk of committing suicide compared to the rest of the population.
Around 13 million Americans suffer from PTSD within a year, which is 5% of the adult population. Many war veterans suffer from this illness, as do people who have experienced physical assault, natural disasters, sexual abuse or childhood abuse. People with moderate or severe symptoms can miss an average of three and a half days of work a month due to symptoms or treatment.
Trauma-focused psychotherapy is the preferred treatment for the condition, but it can take several weeks to show benefits, and not all patients respond to therapy. For these people, antidepressants may be a recommended alternative or an addition to psychotherapy.
But these drugs can also take a long time to work - between five and eight weeks - unlike ketamine, which starts working almost immediately. And since for many people post-traumatic stress is associated with suicidal thoughts, time is of the essence. These people may not have the capacity to wait for the more traditional methods of treatment to start working.
