American Journal of Psychiatry, 2021
This editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry comments on a clinical trial of repeated IV ketamine for chronic PTSD. Patients who received six ketamine infusions over two weeks did much better than those who received a comparison drug: about two-thirds responded to ketamine, compared with about one in five on the comparison drug.
The editorial also points out that the benefit faded for many patients after about a month, and that questions remain about how ketamine works for PTSD, whether pairing it with therapy could make results last longer, and abuse risk. Its conclusion is that ketamine shows real promise for PTSD and deserves larger studies.
Read the full editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry