Ketamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist that has been used extensively as an anesthetic since its development in the 1960’s. In the past 15 years, ketamine has been increasingly studied at sub-anesthetic doses for a broad variety of mental health disorders including depressive disorders, anxiety-spectrum disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and substance use disorders. The use of ketamine for mental health disorders is considered groundbreaking due to its ultra-rapid effects on symptoms and is considered a prototype for future pharmacotherapies.
The existing body of ketamine research has broadly characterized the efficacy of sub-anesthetic dose ketamine for an array of mental health disorders. However, despite the breadth of inquiry across psychiatric diagnoses, much remains to be discovered about individualized treatment efficacy and optimization. This research topic seeks to characterize advances in the therapeutic use of ketamine in psychiatric disorders with a particular emphasis on predictors of treatment outcome and treatment optimization methods.
For this research topic, we solicit original research articles, case series, and comprehensive reviews related to the following themes:
• Biological and sex-based differences
• Dose usage investigating psychoactive properties
• Ketamine pharmacotherapies combined with psychological therapies
• Public perception of the use of ketamine as a treatment
• Mystical psychoactive experiences as a predictor of ketamine treatment outcomes
Ketamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist that has been used extensively as an anesthetic since its development in the 1960’s. In the past 15 years, ketamine has been increasingly studied at sub-anesthetic doses for a broad variety of mental health disorders including depressive disorders, anxiety-spectrum disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and substance use disorders. The use of ketamine for mental health disorders is considered groundbreaking due to its ultra-rapid effects on symptoms and is considered a prototype for future pharmacotherapies.
The existing body of ketamine research has broadly characterized the efficacy of sub-anesthetic dose ketamine for an array of mental health disorders. However, despite the breadth of inquiry across psychiatric diagnoses, much remains to be discovered about individualized treatment efficacy and optimization. This research topic seeks to characterize advances in the therapeutic use of ketamine in psychiatric disorders with a particular emphasis on predictors of treatment outcome and treatment optimization methods.
For this research topic, we solicit original research articles, case series, and comprehensive reviews related to the following themes:
• Biological and sex-based differences
• Dose usage investigating psychoactive properties
• Ketamine pharmacotherapies combined with psychological therapies
• Public perception of the use of ketamine as a treatment
• Mystical psychoactive experiences as a predictor of ketamine treatment outcomes