Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
In a small, controlled study of 18 people with treatment-resistant major depression, a single intravenous dose of the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) produced rapid drops in depression scores. Improvement began within about 2 hours and remained statistically significant compared with placebo for up to 1 week. The study…
This review explains how ketamine, a drug that blocks NMDA receptors, might work for people with treatment‑resistant depression. It says one injection of ketamine can rapidly reduce depressive symptoms, including acute suicidal behavior. The paper describes steps that could explain this: ketamine may raise glutamate, trigger growth of neuron branches,…
This review looks at research on cannabis compounds and the body’s endocannabinoid system as possible treatments for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, PTSD, and schizophrenia. It says the evidence is mixed and mostly preliminary. Some studies show biological links between the endocannabinoid system and mood disorders, and early clinical work suggests…
