New Research Shows Ketamine to Effectively Treat Depression in Elderly Patients

By Khadijah Dunn

New research in Austrailia shows Ketamine could effectively treat depression in elderly patients when taken in low doses.

Though its main function is as an anesthetic for horses and small animals it’s also used recreationally in dance culture to prompt slight hallucinations, mild euphoria, and slower motor functions. Researchers from UNSW Sydney and the Black Dog Institute have found these properties to be beneficial after creating a randomized control trial (RCT) and assessing the drug’s safety as a treatment for depression.

Researchers from UNSW Sydney and the Black Dog Institute have found these properties to be beneficial after creating a randomized control trial (RCT) and assessing the drug’s safety as a treatment for depression.

Eleven out of sixteen participants, all over the age of 60, had reported an improvement in their condition while taking the drug over the course of six months. Low injections were increased over five weeks depending on each participant, leading to 43 per cent of subjects claiming they had no significant signs of depression.

Trial program leader Professor Colleen Loo said Ketamine appears as a “wonder drug” for an anti-depressant it has been proven to substantially help those with treatment resistant depression.

“It’s completely in a different ball park to the current treatments we have for depression,” Professor Loo told ABC News.

Ketamine still has a long way to go in research before doctors can begin prescribing the drug as an anti-depressant, though Professor Loo stated that there had been subjects who remained free of depressive symptoms for several months after a single dose.

Find more information on the study here and tell us what you think of the new outlook on this “wonder drug” in the comments below.