Ketamine for Depression, 2: Diagnostic and Contextual Indications

There is a substantial body of literature comprising anecdotal material and descriptions of uncontrolled and randomized controlled trials addressing the use of subanesthetic doses of ketamine for the off-label treatment of major depressive episodes. This article examines diagnostic indications for the off-label use of ketamine as an antidepressant and possible contexts in which ketamine may be trialled. Ketamine is indicated in patients who are in a major depressive episode. Most of the research data have been collected from patients with major depressive disorder, but patients with bipolar depression have also been studied. Ketamine is effective in both diagnostic groups, but its benefits are impermanent, perhaps more so in bipolar depression. There are several contexts within this diagnostic framework when a ketamine trial may be considered. These include severe depression and depression that is refractory to conventional antidepressant medication; this is because there is little purpose in trialling an experimental treatment in patients who are less severely ill and those who are antidepressant responsive. More importantly, ketamine has demonstrated efficacy in the rapid reduction of suicidal symptoms and can therefore be trialled when rapid reduction in suicidality is necessary. Likewise, because of its swift and dramatic antidepressant action, it can be trialled in patients in whom improvement is urgently desired in order to allow the patient to attend to pressing life circumstances. Some data suggest that the use of ketamine early during the course of an antidepressant trial, or as anesthesia during electroconvulsive therapy, can improve early antidepressant outcomes. It is not clear whether the presence of psychotic symptoms is a contraindication for ketamine use. Issues related to these indications and contexts are briefly discussed.