Effects of ketamine on individual symptoms and symptom networks of depression in a randomised controlled trial of ketamine for treatment-resistant depression.
The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science May 13, 2025 Shabnam Hossein, Manivel Rengasamy, Aiyedun Uzamere et al. 3 citations
Ketamine infusion most strongly alleviates sadness both immediately and during the first week after treatment, whereas improvements in suicidal thoughts emerge only after three to four weeks. In a secondary analysis of 152 adults with treatment-resistant depression (38.8% with suicidal ideation at baseline), those randomized to a single 40-minute intravenous infusion of ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) showed greater early improvement in sadness-related symptoms compared with saline. Network analyses revealed that ketamine increased connectivity among depressive symptoms, strengthening interrelationships between residual symptoms. The findings suggest that different depressive symptoms respond to ketamine with distinct time courses and possibly different mechanisms.