Ketamine to Treat Depression Annotated Bibliography

Hello readers of FutureWolfTech, it’s Matt and I’m writing my first post here on the blog. This post will let you know how my research is going on my first project. I’m researching the drug ketamine and its uses as an antidepressant. Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic drug that can be used both medically and recreationally. In the medical field, it is used for patients that need emergency medical treatment to deal with pain. Because of its potential for hallucinatory side effects, it is not used as a primary anaesthetic. Recreationally, however, it is used because of its hallucinatory effects at high enough doses, similar to drugs like PCP and MDMA. It’s known as “Special K” and is a popular drug among ravers. However, new and promising studies have shown that ketamine can be used as a fast acting antidepressant and anti-suicide medication.


Reardon, Sara. "Rave Drug Holds Promise for Treating Depression Fast." Nature. Nature Publishing Group, 07 Jan. 2015. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.


The author explains how the drug ketamine can be used to treat depression better and quicker than most antidepressants. The drug has just started to be tested in depression patients and the long term effects are just beginning to be recorded. Some companies are already creating their own forms of ketamine-like drugs, that have very similar chemical structure and effects on patients.


McMillen, Matt. "Ketamine: The Future of Depression Treatment?" WebMD. Ed. Micheal W. Smith. Depression Health Center, 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.


In this article, the author argues that ketamine is definitely a very promising drug to treat depression, but it is by no means a “miracle drug” used to treat depression in everybody. The author argues that proper and thorough testing is required, as well as treatment of all aspects of depression.


Zarate, Carlos A. "Rapid Antidepressant Effects of Ketamine in Major Depression." ClinicalTrials.gov. US NIMH, 24 Dec. 2014. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.


This article, while it does not provide any conclusions or results, it shows how relevant and new the studies of ketamine on depression are. The clinical trial was submitted in late December and currently, the experiment is recruiting volunteers diagnosed with depression or bipolar disorder. Because the trials and experiments have started very recently, it will be about 4 or 5 years until the FDA approves of any ketamine or ketamine-like drugs to help with depression patients.


Lally, N., and A. C. Nugent. "Anti-anhedonic Effect of Ketamine and Its Neural Correlates in Treatment-resistant Bipolar Depression." Nature. Nature Publishing Group, 06 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.


In this article, the authors tested whether or not ketamine could be used to reverse specifically anhedonic feelings in depression patients. Anhedonia is a condition in which the patient gets little to no enjoyment out of activities that they normally enjoy. 36 depression patients participated in this study, and ketamine was found to quickly reduce anhedonia in patients. The anhedonia reversal was found to be independent of other depression symptoms.


Nordqvist, Joseph. "Ketamine Effective At Treating Depression." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 4 June 2013. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.


The authors of this do not argue whether or not ketamine could effectively treat depression, but at what dose it can be administered safely while having the effects. If the patient is given a high dose, it works well to treat depression, but with the hallucinatory and dissociative side effects. When administered at low doses, over a longer period of time, it was equally effective at treating depression but without the side effects.