Ketamine Falls Short in Depression Treatment Study.
In a study from Stanford University, intravenous ketamine failed to beat an active placebo for treating depression. The supposed rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine disappeared when compared to the placebo. The study was triple-blinded, and the researchers used surgical anesthesia as the active placebo. The researchers suggest that the placebo effect may be responsible for the supposed powerful antidepressant effects of ketamine. Ketamine has many effects that make it challenging to do a genuinely blinded trial, such as dizziness, nausea, and dissociative states.