Research · United States
NIMH updates the evidence on rapid-acting depression treatment
An October 2024 research highlight summarizes what NIMH-funded studies now show about ketamine's mechanism and durability.
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NIMH's research update gathers a decade of federally funded ketamine research into one accessible summary. The throughline: ketamine produces fast antidepressant effects for many patients with treatment-resistant depression, but the underlying mechanism is still being mapped, and the question of how to sustain the response between infusions remains open.
The piece is a useful corrective to both the hype around ketamine clinics and the dismissiveness of skeptics. It treats the drug as what it is: a real signal of something important about depression biology, not yet a finished treatment.
Read NIMH's full update for the underlying studies and what they conclude.
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