Ketamine treatment for depression?

Posted on aug. 23 in Biologi, Psykiatri with Kommentarer slået fra

Experimental Antidepressant Use

According to a National Institute of Mental Health press release on 7 August 2006, a study of 17 patients led by Dr Carlos Zarate Jr. of the NIMH showed that ketamine significantly improved treatment-resistant major depression within two hours of injection. The improvement lasted up to one week after the single dose. The patients in the study were previously treatment resistant, having tried an average of six other treatments that failed. The importance of these findings was articulated by NIMH director Dr Thomas Insel: “This is the first report of any medication or other treatment that results in such a pronounced, rapid, prolonged response.” The researchers apparently attribute the effect to ketamine being an NMDA receptor antagonist.

The study appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

(About Ketamine, see: Wikipedia: Ketamine.) Læs mere →

Latest reality show promises compulsive viewing

Posted on maj. 26 in Psykologi with Kommentarer slået fra

Channel 4 are to put three obsessive compulsive disorder sufferers in a house together for a new TV show.

The OCD House will attempt to cure them of their condition in just two weeks with an experimental treatment programme.
The three participants are a woman who is unable to share a bed with her husband or hug her children, a man who believes he will “incriminate” himself if he touches another human being, and a woman who spends three hours each day washing her hands.

Channel 4 insist The OCD House is a serious observational documentary trialling a new method of treatment.
Leading OCD specialist Professor Paul Salkovskis from Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital (King’s College London) is involved in the programme.

The show is being made by Monkey Kingdom. On its website, Monkey Kingdom says the three sufferers will be set a series of tasks and must try to overcome their condition in just 14 days.
“For the three participants, it’s the last chance saloon… Can they overcome 20 plus years of OCD in just 14 days? Or are they and their families condemned to a life of OCD misery forever? Everything hangs in the balance for the next fortnight at The OCD House,” it reads.

The programme is one of the highlights of Channel 4’s summer schedule.

Source: The Guardian
See also:
Monkey Kingdom Production site
OCD message board Stuck in a doorway
Information about OCD at Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital