Adjunctive Ketamine Appears to Reduce Suicidal Thoughts in Depressed Patients for Up to Six Weeks

A single adjunctive infusion of ketamine appears to reduce suicidal thoughts in depressed patients within 24 hours, according to astudy published yesterday inAJP in Advance. This improvement was maintained for six weeks with standard, optimized pharmacotherapy.While previous studies have suggested ketamine rapidly reduces suicidal ideation in some patients, whether similar effects would be seen in patients with major depression and high levels of suicidal ideation was less clear.Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute randomly assigned 80 adults with major depressive disorder and suicidal ideation to receive ketamine or midazolam infusion. At baseline, 54% of the sample was taking antidepressant medication.The researchers assessed the study participants ’ suicidal ideation at the start of the trial using the clinician-rated Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI). The SSI consists of 19 items, including severity of wish to die, passive and active suicide attempts, and duration and frequency of ideation, which can be used to monitor a patient's response to interventions. This assessment was repeated 24 hours before infusion with ketamine or midazolam, 230 minutes after infusion, 24 hours after infusion, and at weeks one to six after infusion. Patients were also asked about symptoms of depression and anxiety before and after the infusion, as well a s adverse effects following the infusion and again at six-week follow-up.Withi...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: ajp in advance antidepressant depression dissociative effects high blood pressure infusion ketamine Michael F. Grunebaum midazolam suicide Source Type: research