Participants in the U.K. experimental study dramatically reduced their average alcohol intake for months after the initial dose. Ketamine has also been used to treat severe depression.
Three decades after Prozac arrived, consumers are getting a new kind of antidepressant. The medicine is based on the anesthetic ketamine, which has been used illicitly as a party drug.
A Stanford research team finds that ketamine's ability to quickly relieve depression may depend on activating the brain's opioid system. The finding raises new questions about the drug's safety.
The anesthetic ketamine first wowed the medical world with its ability to relieve severe depression in hours. Now it's showing promise for other psychiatric disorders, including bipolar and PTSD.
Doctors and patients are using ketamine to treat severe depression, even though the anesthetic and psychedelic club drug has not been approved by the FDA for that purpose. It's not without risks.
A decade ago, scientists showed that the anesthetic ketamine could relieve major depression in hours. Now, two chemical cousins of the drug are entering the late stages of clinical testing.
