cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/8180477
Why this is significant: There is no currently known treatment to stop suicidal thoughts when they happen. Antidepressants take 4-6 weeks to start working, and they don’t work for everyone. Therapy also takes time. Our best option for acutely suicidal people is to lock them up in a psychiatric facility until they are no longer a threat to themselves.
Intravenous ketamine offers a glimpse of hope. A single dose appears able to alleviate suicidal ideation immediately after administration and for up to a week afterwards.
I have read, from ketamine infusion recipients, that it was amazing at first but then their depression got worse after the initial period of relief.
That’s the reason I haven’t done it myself. People who have enough money to keep getting the infusions swear by it. But people who don’t have some very disturbing stories to tell.
That’s interesting, I’ve also heard the opposite, and I think this just shows we need way more research - and of course way more coverage by insurance. I also wonder if people who got worse had just depression or depression and PTSD. I have a personal pet theory about that (basically, I’m curious whether, if you have PTSD the infusions will make you better short-term, but you still need therapy to process the trauma to receive long-term relief - no actual research support for this yet).