Examining the impact of comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder on ketamine's real-world effectiveness in treatment-resistant depression.
European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology February 1, 2025 Danica E Johnson, Nelson B Rodrigues, Sydney Weisz et al.
Depression with co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) leads to more severe symptoms and poorer response to standard treatments. In a retrospective analysis of 134 patients with treatment-resistant depression, four ketamine infusions (0.5-0.75 mg/kg) reduced depressive symptoms equally in those with and without comorbid PTSD; no significant group-by-time interaction was found. PTSD symptoms also significantly improved across all symptom clusters, with moderate to large effect sizes. Ketamine shows promise as an effective intervention for this hard-to-treat population, though future randomized trials should explore factors driving improvement and long-term outcomes.