The Relationship Between Acute Dissociative Effects Induced by Ketamine and Treatment Response in Adolescent Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression
Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology February 1, 2023 Alice Lineham, V. Avila-Quintero, M. Bloch et al. 20 citations
Ketamine is an effective rapid-acting antidepressant, but its acute dissociative effects do not predict depression response in adolescents with treatment-resistant depression. In a secondary analysis of 16 adolescents from a crossover trial, no significant associations were found between dissociative symptoms—measured by the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale—and depression improvement or response one day after ketamine infusion. When receiving the control drug midazolam, higher depersonalization symptoms were linked to less improvement. These findings contrast with some adult studies and may be limited by the small sample size, which reduces the ability to detect small or medium effects.