When was ketamine created?
Ketamine has a long history as a pain reliever.Developed in 1962, ketamine was initially used as an anesthetic on battlefields, in operating rooms, and in pediatric medicine for minor procedures. Beginning in the 1970s, ketamine gained the unfortunate reputation as a club drug as it became a popular substance of abuse among partygoers and later rave culture.Ketamine’s notoriety took a positive turn in1990s when the Yale School of Medicine began researching ketamine therapy as a potential treatment for depression. They found that ketamine can provide significant relief of depression symptoms when administered in a clinical setting and at the right dosage.Further studies have shown similar results, with significant positive outcomes for ketamine among patients with severe treatment-resistant depression and suicidal ideation.“The rapid therapeutic response of ketamine in treatment-resistant patients is the biggest breakthrough in depression research in a half century,” said Ronald Duman, the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Neurobiology, Yale School of Medicine.