--- title: Ketamine as Depression Treatment Bolstered in New Study description: Scientists may have pinpointed how ketamine triggers fast-acting antidepressant effects in the brain and may work against depression. canonical: https://time.com/4826620/ketamine-depression-antidepressant/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-21T17:35:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:14:59.201Z article:section: Health og:title: There's More Proof That Ketamine Works for Depression og:description: Scientists may have found how ketamine triggers rapid antidepressant effects og:url: https://time.com/4826620/ketamine-depression-antidepressant/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a481b25881de09a/6988d28f8fd2eefd11357a3a/depression.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2734 og:image:height: 1538 og:image:alt: Depression og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: There's More Proof That Ketamine Works for Depression twitter:description: Scientists may have found how ketamine triggers rapid antidepressant effects twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a481b25881de09a/6988d28f8fd2eefd11357a3a/depression.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # There's More Proof That Ketamine Works for Depression > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: It's Official: Yoga Helps Depression [Watch (HLS stream): It's Official: Yoga Helps Depression](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X1gG6U73.m3u8) (1:02)  _Published 2017-03-09. A small new study from Boston University finds that taking yoga classes twice a week may help ease depression, thanks in part to deep breathing_  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Jun 21, 2017 5:35 PM UTC  Depressed young woman in a dark room Depressed young woman in a dark room Getty Images  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Jun 21, 2017 5:35 PM UTC For decades, scientists have searched for a new type of [antidepressant](http://time.com/4525613/antidepressants-depression-stress/), one that works differently from the 20-plus drugs already on the market. Finding a new option is crucial, since a third of people don’t respond to available depression treatments. They haven’t had much luck — except for the discovery that IV infusions of ketamine hydrochloride, an FDA-approved anesthetic, can cause rapid antidepressant effects in many people with stubborn depression. Figuring out exactly how ketamine has these effects has been a researcher’s dream, since ketamine is too problematic a drug to currently be considered a mainstream depression treatment. It’s illicitly used — and abused — as a psychedelic club drug and can cause hallucinations. [Ketamine can also have negative side effects when used off-label to treat depression](http://time.com/4687244/ketamine-club-drug-depression/?iid=sr-link2), including unexpected changes in heart functioning, cognition and respiration. Its antidepressant effects fade, so it typically has to be given over and over again, and it’s not yet clear how safe or effective it is when taken long-term. Developing a drug that works like ketamine, but without all the baggage, is the holy grail — but scientists haven’t known quite what to target. Now, in [a new study published in the journal _Nature_](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v546/n7659/full/nature22084.html), scientists have more proof of how ketamine works in the brain to trigger fast-acting antidepressant effects. This finding could help pave the way for the development of safer drugs and an entirely new kind of antidepressant. Lisa Monteggia, the study’s lead author and a neuroscientist at the O’Donnell Brain Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Center, believes the finding is revolutionary in the field. “Until you have a target, it’s very difficult to think about designing drugs or even knowing what drugs to screen,” she says. “What we’re suggesting is a pathway for how you can trigger a rapid antidepressant effect.” In their new laboratory research, Monteggia and her colleagues studied what happens when a metabolite of ketamine is applied to a certain part of the brain called the NMDA receptor, which plays a role in many brain functions. Past research has indicated that ketamine blocks this receptor, which seems to trigger psychedelic and antidepressant effects. They found that it does block the receptor, which sets off a cascade of effects, including antidepressant ones. But the newest and most exciting finding is that ketamine appears to block the NMDA receptor by sitting on a very particular region of it. That precise placement may be key, because some other drugs that block the NMDA receptor haven’t shown antidepressant effects. “We think that the specificity is what’s important to trigger this signaling cascade,” Monteggia says. “This receptor is very complicated in terms of its function, and not all blockers are the same.” Much more research is needed, including studies in humans. But understanding exactly how ketamine acts on this receptor gives scientists a much-needed target to aim for when developing a next-generation drug. It also allows researchers to look back at existing drugs in search of one that works similarly. “It’s been very disappointing, trying to develop novel antidepressants and not really knowing what to target,” she says. “I think people are on the right track in terms of looking at NMDA receptor blockers as antidepressants.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4826620/ketamine-depression-antidepressant/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4826620/ketamine-depression-antidepressant/"},"headline":"There's More Proof That Ketamine Works for Depression","datePublished":"2017-06-21T17:35:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:14:59.201Z","description":"Scientists may have found how ketamine triggers rapid antidepressant effects","url":"https://time.com/4826620/ketamine-depression-antidepressant/","keywords":["Mental Health/Psychology","Depression","Antidepressants","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a481b25881de09a/6988d28f8fd2eefd11357a3a/depression.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mandy Oaklander","jobTitle":"Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a481b25881de09a/6988d28f8fd2eefd11357a3a/depression.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Depression","caption":"Depression","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mental-healthpsychology/","name":"Mental Health/Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4826620/ketamine-depression-antidepressant/","name":"There's More Proof That Ketamine Works for Depression"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"It's Official: Yoga Helps Depression","description":"A small new study from Boston University finds that taking yoga classes twice a week may help ease depression, thanks in part to deep breathing","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/X1gG6U73/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-03-09T17:35:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X1gG6U73.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4826620/ketamine-depression-antidepressant/","duration":"PT1M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4826620/ketamine-depression-antidepressant/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```