Main upsides of Ketamine for depression vs typical antidepressants (SSRIs, etc)
- Ketamine seems to have a much larger effect size (-~0.99 [1] vs -~0.35 for typical antidepressants [2]) [If anyone spots an error, please let me know]<p>For context, an SMD of 0.2 is small, >0.5 is medium, and >0.8 is large.[3]<p>Advantages of Ketamine vs other antidepressants<p>- Ketamine seems to have a much stronger antidepressant effect than our current antidepressants (To me this seems to be by far the most important/interesting thing)<p>- Benefits occur within hours rather than weeks<p>- Doesn't seem to interfere with sexual function, unlike many antidepressants<p>Main downsides of Ketamine for depression<p>- Much more expensive and normally not covered by insurance<p>- It's less well studied<p>- You have to go in for additional ketamine infusions to maintain the effects, it seems roughly ~1x a month long term<p>(The SMD for typical antidepressants seems to range from ~-0.13 to ~-0.35, with Tricyclic antidepressants slightly higher at around -~0.42.[4][5][6])<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25038867" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25038867</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/wps.20112" rel="nofollow">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/wps.20112</a><p>[3]: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2730804/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2730804/</a><p>[4]: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2903535/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2903535/</a><p>[5]: <a href="http://www.annfammed.org/content/3/5/449.full" rel="nofollow">http://www.annfammed.org/content/3/5/449.full</a><p>[6]: <a href="http://www.cochrane.org/CD011735/MUSKEL_selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors-ssris-fibromyalgia" rel="nofollow">http://www.cochrane.org/CD011735/MUSKEL_selective-serotonin-...</a>