Ketamine for depression: new review highlights the need for an RCT

Interest has been growing in ketamine as a treatment of depression (Aan Het Rot, et al 2012; Diamond et al., 2014) and there is some genuine excitement among some of the elvish bloggers.

Mainly used in veterinary surgery, ketamine has been discovered to rapidly improve even the most severe cases of unipolar and bipolar depression. However, as yet there are still many questions left unanswered before ketamine can become a licensed treatment alternative.

For one, there needs to be more clarity about the safety and effectiveness of the drug before an informed weighing of pros and cons is feasible. In addition, in order to stay on top of the immense interest ketamine has spurred, it is essential to have an updated overview of all studies out there. To this end McGirr et al have provided the most recent systematic review of methodologically sound studies (McGirr et al, 2014).

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