Dangerous party drug against mental illness? Treat with depression Ketamine

Club drug Ketamine can help people with depression

In recent years, hardly any new drugs for the treatment of mental illness have been developed. Apparently, however, can also help funds that were originally brought to a very different purpose on the market. For example, the anesthetic ketamine is useful as an aid to some patients with depression.

More and more people are suffering from mental illness

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, the number of people with depression worldwide has increased significantly. In Germany and the EU too, more and more people are suffering from the mental illness. According to the German Depressionshilfe fall in this country every year over five million people in need of treatment, unipolar depression. There were no new drugs in recent years. The recent breakthroughs, so-called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac, are already over 30 years back. However, some depressives can use a remedy that is also used as a party drug.

Ketamine can help in the treatment of major depression. The drug, which is actually used as an anesthetic, is used by some people as a party drug. (Image: BillionPhotos.com/fotolia.com)

Easily treatable in early diagnosis

In many cases depression can be treated well as long as they are detected early. However, antidepressants do not help in all patients.

According to experts, almost a third of those affected do not respond to the various medications.

Here, the use of a remedy may be useful, which is also used by some people as a club drug: ketamine.

In scientific research, ketamine has been shown to help in the treatment of major depression.

For example, scientists from the University of New South Wales (Australia) found that the drug works effectively in older patients.

Anesthetics for depression

Ketamine is a drug that is used in particular as an anesthetic and for the treatment of pain. Originally, the remedy served as a horse's drug.

But it has been known for some time that this substance can also be an effective antidepressant.

The psychiatrist Malek Bajbouj from the Berlin Charité has already used Ketamin, which is also used as a party drug against depression and anxiety and made good experiences with it.

According to Siegfried Kasper, Head of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Medical University of Vienna, the narcotic quickly gets people out of their depression and suppresses suicidal thoughts.

"Ketamine works already after ten to 20 minutes and brightens the mood," the expert said in a statement.

Ketamine quickly frees you from suicidal thoughts

Barbara Reiger also helps the remedy. As the news agency dpa reports, the US-American from San Diego gets heavily diluted ketamine every six weeks. "I immediately felt relief," the depressive said about her first "trip".

So far, about 3,000 people have been treated in the US. In this country, the therapy is slowly becoming known.

Fast help is needed, also because of the risk of suicide.

"In severe, so-called psychotic depressions, gigantic fears of the future and guilt associated with high inner tension, feelings of exhaustion, insomnia and complete hopelessness can occur, so that sinister thoughts can develop," explained Prof. Dr. med. Ulrich Hegerl, Chairman of the German Foundation for Depression Support in an earlier communication.

The fact that ketamine frees some patients from their suicidal thoughts within an hour, medics convinced.

"It's a paradigm shift because we can now quickly achieve antidepressant effects," said Carlos Zarate of the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), according to dpa.

Proven efficacy in scientific studies

According to experts, the mechanism of action of ketamine is to balance a glutamate-GABA balance in the brain: Glutamate is particularly important in the brain and is important for movement control, sensory perception and memory.

GABA reduces the excitability of nerve cells and is therefore virtually the antagonist of glutamate. In people with depression or anxiety, this balance is disturbed, which can be repaired by ketamine.

How the remedy works is also described in articles by the NIH (National Institutes of Health) and the journal Nature.

It is considered problematic that it can also lead to anxiety, insomnia and flashbacks. It is also unclear whether it has long-term consequences or perhaps even makes it dependent.

Although the efficacy of ketamine in heavy-duty depressants, which are known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), has not been proven in scientific studies, a large double-blind study has so far been lacking.

Therefore, the US Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved the drug for the treatment of depression. Currently, only the so-called off-label use is practiced.

Findings may open path to new antidepressants

The American Psychiatric Society does not consider ketamine as a suitable treatment-resistant depressive measure.

"I still think it's the most exciting treatment for mood disorders in the past 50 years," Ketamine researcher Gerard Sanacora (Yale School of Medicine) said in a statement.

Currently, several pharmaceutical companies are working on ketamine-like agents, which can be administered as a nasal spray, for example.

Here sees Prof. dr. med. Malek Bajbouj from the Berliner Charité Potenzial. The hospital currently has 100 patients, the largest range of ketamine therapies nationwide.

According to the data, the success rate is only 35 to 50 percent, but the rapid onset of action is a major advantage of ketamine.

"Even more important, however, are insights into the special mechanism of action. They can open the path to new antidepressants ", says Bajbouj according to dpa. (Ad)