PSYCHO ACTIVE

Professor Colleen Loo. Photo: Grant Turner, Mediakoo

‘Game changing’ drug could be effective in suicide prevention

A drug traditionally used as an anaesthetic and sometimes used recreationally could be effective in preventing suicide and lifting the mood of severely depressed patients, according to a UNSW academic who has trialled the drug in Sydney.

Ketamine, which has the street name ‘special K’, has been shown to be effective in most patients who were part of the trial, at least temporarily. The participants were suffering from Major Depressive Disorder and had exhausted all other medical treatments.

“This is a game-changer in treating depression,” says UNSW Professor Colleen Loo, who is the lead author of a study published in the World Journal of Biological Psychiatry. “The real advantage here is that the effect is almost instantaneous and that it appears to work on the majority of patients.”