cross posted from health

[mopinko]

Onetime party drug hailed as miracle for treating severe depression

It was November 2012 when Dennis Hartman, a Seattle business executive, managed to pull himself out of bed, force himself to shower for the first time in days and board a plane that would carry him across the country to a clinical trial at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda.

After a lifetime of profound depression, 25 years of therapy and cycling through 18 antidepressants and mood stabilizers, Hartman, then 46, had settled on a date and a plan to end it all. The clinical trial would be his last attempt at salvation.

For 40 minutes, he sat in a hospital room as an IV drip delivered ketamine through his system. Several more hours passed before it occurred to him that all his thoughts of suicide had evaporated.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-one-time-party-drug-is-helping-people-with-deep-depression/2016/02/01/d3e73862-b490-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html

[elleng]

1. Thanks, mop.

Timely, as my daughter informed me recently she's 'in a very deep depression that's ruining my life.' She's got 2 littluns, a good job, but has definitely been subject to mental health issues thru her life (for which she hasn't received professional help since her high school years.)

[mopinko]

2. why does it have to take so long for us to figure it out?

if modern medicine can come up with reliable tests for mental illness it will be the greatest thing since penicillin.

[elleng]

3. I knew it years ago,

but had no cooperation from her father, no control when she was away from home, and reluctant recognition from her fiance, now husband, in recent years.

[mopinko]

4. well, sure, moms know.

if only anyone gave a shit what moms think.