Assistant Professor of Psychiatry NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine
Ketamine defies neat categorization: it is a rapid-acting antidepressant and a dissociative hallucinogen, an NMDA receptor antagonist with both addiction potential and demonstrated anti-addictive properties. Though it lacks FDA approval for any psychiatric indication, ketamine is currently at the center of a rapidly changing landscape of mental health care. In this wide-ranging but highly practical session, we will discuss different models of ketamine treatment for psychiatric disorders. We will review recent data supporting the safety and efficacy of off-label ketamine in the treatment of mood and substance use disorders. While noting a number of gaps in the empirical data, we will highlight robust evidence to support integrating ketamine into the standard psychiatric pharmacopeia. We will discuss putative mechanisms of action, and the ways in which different psychotherapies might complement—or even augment—the drug-specific effects.