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Summary & key facts

This paper reviewed what we know so far about using ketamine, a fast-acting psychiatric drug, to treat eating disorders. Eating disorders are serious and hard to treat, so researchers are looking for new options. The review found some promising signs, especially for people who have not improved with other treatments, but the evidence is very limited. Most reports are small case series about anorexia nervosa. That means ketamine might help, but bigger, careful studies are needed to check who it helps, how safe it is, and what dose and treatment plan work best.

Key facts:

• Eating disorders are serious, life-threatening psychiatric conditions that often cause major physical and social problems.
• Ketamine is a fast-acting drug that was recently approved for people with depression who did not get better from other treatments.
• Researchers are studying ketamine for other conditions too, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use problems.
• This review looked at studies where ketamine was used as a main treatment, added to other treatments, or combined with other drugs for eating disorders.
• The early results in the reviewed reports are encouraging and suggest ketamine could have therapeutic value for some people with eating disorders.
• Most of the evidence so far comes from small case reports and case series, and mostly concerns anorexia nervosa.
• Because the current evidence is limited, more research is needed to test ketamine across different kinds of eating disorders, to establish safety, to find the best doses, and to develop treatments tailored to each person.

Abstract

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious, life-threatening psychiatric conditions associated with physical and psychosocial impairment, as well as high morbidity and mortality. Given the chronic refractory nature of EDs and the paucity of evidence-based treatments, there is a pressing need to identify novel approaches for this population. The noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAr) antagonist, ketamine, has recently been approved for treatment-resistant depression, exerting rapid and robust antidepressant effects. It is now being investigated for several new indications, including obsessive-compulsive, post-traumatic, and substance use disorder, and shows transdiagnostic potential for EDs, particularly among clinical nonresponders. Hence, the aim of this review is to examine contemporary findings on the treatment of EDs with ketamine, whether used as a primary, adjunctive, or combination psychopharmacotherapy. Avenues for future research are also discussed. Overall, results are encouraging and point to therapeutic value; however, are limited to case series and reports on anorexia nervosa. Further empirical research is thus needed to explore ketamine efficacy across ED subgroups, establish safety profiles and optimize dosing, and develop theory-driven, targeted treatment strategies at the individual patient level.

Topics

Diverse Music Education Insights Musicians’ Health and Performance Musicology and Musical Analysis

Categories

Arts and Humanities Music Social Sciences

Tags

Art Audiology Computer science Epistemology Medicine Musical Musical composition New Interfaces for Musical Expression Philosophy Psychology Quality (philosophy) Visual arts

Substances

Ketamine

Conditions & symptoms

Depression Eating Disorder PTSD Poor appetite or overeating Sadness or low mood