Treatment resistant depression at a glance with traditional, first line antidepressant treatments, as well as a review of the evidence behind esketamine, psilocybin and pramipexole.

Kverno KS, Mangano E. Treatment-Resistant Depression: Approaches to Treatment. J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2021 Sep;59(9):7-11. doi: 10.3928/02793695-20210816-01. Epub 2021 Sep 1. PMID: 34459676. Highlights: Approximately 30% of people treated for a major depressive episode will not achieve remission after two or more treatment trials of first-line antidepressants and are considered to have treatment-resistant […]

Ketamine and the Future of Rapid-Acting Antidepressants.

Lace M. Riggs and Todd D. Gould.  Ketamine and the Future of Rapid-Acting Antidepressants.  Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 2021 17:1, 207-231   Highlights: The therapeutic onset of traditional antidepressants is delayed by several weeks and many depressed patients fail to respond to treatment altogether. In contrast, subanesthetic ketamine can rapidly alleviate symptoms of depression […]

Prolonged ketamine infusion modulates limbic connectivity and induces sustained remission of treatment-resistant depression.

Siegel JS, Palanca BJA, Ances BM, Kharasch ED, Schweiger JA, Yingling MD, Snyder AZ, Nicol GE, Lenze EJ, Farber NB. Prolonged ketamine infusion modulates limbic connectivity and induces sustained remission of treatment-resistant depression. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2021 Apr;238(4):1157-1169. doi: 10.1007/s00213-021-05762-6. Epub 2021 Jan 22. PMID: 33483802; PMCID: PMC7969576.   Highlights: In this open-label, proof-of-principle study, adults […]

Efficacy of single and repeated administration of ketamine in unipolar and bipolar depression: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

Highlights: The rapid and robust antidepressant effects of single-dose ketamine in patients with TRD suggest that ketamine is a promising candidate for an effective therapy in patients who do not respond to conventional treatment. Our findings showed that a single administration of ketamine reduces depressive symptoms and that the initial antidepressant effects of the drug […]

Ketamine for acute suicidal ideation. An emergency department intervention: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept trial.

Domany Y, Shelton RC, McCullumsmith CB. Ketamine for acute suicidal ideation. An emergency department intervention: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept trial. Depress Anxiety. 2020 Mar;37(3):224-233. doi: 10.1002/da.22975. Epub 2019 Nov 16. PMID: 31733088. Highlights: A single dose of IV ketamine produced effective and rapid reductions in suicidal ideation in as little as 90 minutes. 88% […]

Efficacy of ketamine therapy in the treatment of depression.

Mandal S, Sinha VK, Goyal N. Efficacy of ketamine therapy in the treatment of depression. Indian J Psychiatry. 2019 Sep-Oct;61(5):480-485. doi: 10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry _484_18. PMID: 31579184; PMCID: PMC6767816.   Highlight: The effect of subanesthetic dose of ketamine was assessed on depressive and anxiety symptoms. Illness severity and improvement were assessed after treatment with ketamine. Twenty-five drug-free/naïve […]

Efficacy of ketamine therapy in the treatment of depression. Indian J Psychiatry.

Mandal S, Sinha VK, Goyal N. Efficacy of ketamine therapy in the treatment of depression. Indian J Psychiatry. 2019 Sep-Oct;61(5):480-485. doi: 10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry _484_18. PMID: 31579184; PMCID: PMC6767816.   Highlights: Administration of slow IV ketamine in patients with severe depression results in significant improvement in depression and anxiety symptoms immediately 1 hour after a single dose […]

Effects of ketamine in patients with treatment-refractory generalized anxiety and social anxiety disorders: Exploratory double-blind psychoactive-controlled replication study

Glue, P., Neehoff, S., Sabadel, A., Broughton, L., Le Nedelec, M., Shadli, S., McNaughton, N., & Medlicott, N. J. (2019). Effects of ketamine in patients with treatment-refractory generalized anxiety and social anxiety disorders: Exploratory double-blind psychoactive-controlled replication study. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 34(3), 267–272. Highlights: The purpose of this study was to replicate our earlier report […]