The role of dissociation in ketamine’s antidepressant effects

Summary & key facts

This paper reviews studies about ketamine, a drug that can lift mood quickly, and the strange short-term experiences it can cause where people feel changed or disconnected. The authors find that current research does not show those strange experiences are required for ketamine to improve depression. They say more careful work is needed to check the connection at the level of brain chemistry, biological markers, and people’s mental experiences.

Key facts:

• Ketamine can produce fast antidepressant effects, meaning it can reduce symptoms of low mood soon after people take it.
• Ketamine also often causes short-term dissociative effects. Dissociation means people report changes in consciousness and in how they see themselves and their surroundings.
• Researchers asked whether the dissociative effects are necessary for ketamine’s antidepressant benefits.
• A review of the existing studies did not find evidence that dissociation is required for the antidepressant response to ketamine.
• The review looked at ketamine and other drugs that block the same brain receptor type, called NMDA receptors, to compare their effects.
• The authors say more research is needed. They want studies that examine the link between dissociation and mood change at the molecular level, using biological markers, and by studying people’s psychological experiences.

Abstract

Abstract Ketamine produces immediate antidepressant effects and has inspired research into next-generation treatments. Ketamine also has short term dissociative effects, in which individuals report altered consciousness and perceptions of themselves and their environment. However, whether ketamine’s dissociative side effects are necessary for its antidepressant effects remains unclear. This perspective examines the relationship between dissociative effects and acute and longer-lasting antidepressant response to ketamine and other N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists. Presently, the literature does not support the conclusion that dissociation is necessary for antidepressant response to ketamine. However, further work is needed to explore the relationship between dissociation and antidepressant response at the molecular, biomarker, and psychological levels.

Topics

Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research Treatment of Major Depression Tryptophan and brain disorders

Categories

Health Sciences Medicine Pharmacology

Tags

Antidepressant Chemistry Dissociation (chemistry) Dissociative Glutamate receptor Hippocampus Internal medicine Ketamine Medicine Neuroscience NMDA receptor Pharmacology Physical chemistry Psychology Receptor

Substances

Ketamine

Conditions & symptoms

Depression PTSD Feeling disconnected from others Sadness or low mood