Depression, and many of the other mental disorders we know of, are usually a headache for professionals, since their solution does not seem to be unique and each person acts in a completely different way. In addition, many of the existing treatments have not yet given the adequate response, so new avenues are continually being explored.
More and more drugs appear to treat these depressive disorders, quickly, in patients who are in extreme situations. And we are talking about a gigantic social problem, which affects populations in all countries of the world indistinctly.
In USA, the latest data shows us that around 16 million people suffered an episode of major depression over the course of a year, which represents terrible numbers. In recent decades, this number has increased by almost 30% in a large part of the states of the North American giant, as published Harvard Medical School (HMS).
One of the therapies that has gained the most strength in recent years has been the use of ketamine. It is a dissociative drug, but it also has analgesic, anesthetic and antidepressant effects, as well as being unknown to our body, so it could end up working better.
The use of ketamine for severe depression
As we mentioned, there are many recent studies that want to demonstrate the effectiveness of this component on depression. And that is why, in USAthe marketing of a drug that comes from ketamine (Spravato), which only contains one of the two main molecules of the drug.
In the same publication of the HMSthe researchers who comment that ketamine exerts an antidepressant effect on brain receptors through a new mechanism, so it could help these people when other methods have not worked.
Thus, it can quickly reduce suicidal tendencies and alleviate other serious symptoms of depression. What is certain is that it does not help everyone equally, and that is why it is such a difficult disorder to treat, since there is no single solution for all patients.
Brittany O’Brienassistant professor at the Baylor College of Medicinein Houstonwas one of the main authors of A study which established that some types of patients are more likely to gain rapid and significant benefit from ketamine than others.
Although most patients benefited from this drug, around a third experienced a “rapid improvement” in their depression symptoms, according to some of the participating researchers. In addition, certain personal characteristics of the patients seemed to anticipate that level of benefit that was later demonstrated.
“Severely depressed individuals with a history of childhood trauma may have a higher chance of a rapid and robust response to ketamine,” he concluded. O’Brien. “This finding needs to be tested further and more carefully to better understand the potential role of trauma in response to treatment with this drug.”
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