The Past, Present and Future of Using Ketamine to Treat Depression

Written By Rachel Bakish

Raleigh McElvery

The drug’s initial successes have upended what many neuroscientists know about the brain and mental illness

The first time Ashley Clayton tried ketamine to treat her depression, it was as if time folded in on itself and there was nothing but the present. Initial responses to doctor-prescribed ketamine run the gamut: some patients enter a dream-like state, while others have been known to tell inappropriate jokes or convince themselves that they’re dead.

Rachel Bakish
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