Re:Amygdala connectivity predicts ketamine treatment respons...
by cmrdporcupine on Monday November 28, 2022 @10:51AM
(#33775083)
Exactly. Ketamine as a "party drug" is more something taken "to get f*cked up" rather than "to feel good." I've always found it odd that it caught on as a party drug, TBH. It's likely more to do with availability.
Ketamine in its present form is decidedly not ideal for depression treatment, but probably a tradeoff often worth considering compared to the risks of severe and enduring depression. Amine neurotransmittor reuptake inhibitors have quite substantial problems associated with them too (there we arguably really have had a case of the mistaken and excessive wonder-drug status you allude to).
The true excitement of ketamine-based depression treatment is perhaps more in that it is something different. It quickly affects the problematic state, by some mechanism which appears to be quite different from the now "classical" antidepressants. That has potential both as a basis for more refined drugs and more importantly to better understand the real mechanisms underpinning depression.