Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

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.

3 papers

Ketamine for the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders: comprehensive systematic review

Zach Walsh, Özden Merve Mollaahmetoğlu, Joseph M. Rootman, Shannon Golsof, Johanna Louise Keeler, Beth Marsh, et al.
BJPsych Open Summary & key facts 2021 168 citations

This systematic review looked at 83 published reports on ketamine for mental health and substance use disorders. It found strong evidence that ketamine can produce rapid antidepressant and anti‑suicidal effects, but these benefits tend to be short‑lived. Evidence for other conditions was weaker but often showed similar short-term effects. Many…

Mental Health Research Topics Treatment of Major Depression Tryptophan and brain disorders Ketamine

Ketamine and psychotherapy for the treatment of psychiatric disorders: systematic review

Bess M. Kew, Richard Porter, Katie M. Douglas, Paul Glue, Charlotte L. Mentzel, Ben Beaglehole
BJPsych Open Summary & key facts 2023 51 citations

The combination of psychotherapy and ketamine offers promise for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, but study heterogeneity prevents definitive recommendations for their integration. Larger randomised controlled trials using manualised psychotherapies and standardised ketamine protocols are recommended to clarify the extent to which the addition of psychotherapy to ketamine improves outcomes…

Diet and metabolism studies Treatment of Major Depression Tryptophan and brain disorders

Ketamine treatment for depression: qualitative study exploring patient views

Sagar Jilka, Clarissa Mary Odoi, Emma Wilson, Sazan Meran, Sara Simblett, Til Wykes
PubMed Central (PMC) Summary & key facts 2021 23 citations

Researchers ran three focus groups with 14 people who have depression but had not tried ketamine. Participants saw ketamine as promising but were worried about its reputation as a party drug, possible long-term harms, and how it would be monitored. They wanted clear public information, better evidence about long-term safety,…

Alcoholism and Thiamine Deficiency Treatment of Major Depression Tryptophan and brain disorders Ketamine
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