Yale: A clinical trial is underway to help answer that question. It is
testing the ability of esketamine, a drug very similar to ketamine, to
alleviate suicidal thinking in severely depressed patients. Ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist drug, has been shown to dramatically improve symptoms of major depression.
Gerard Sanacora MD, PhD,
director of the Yale Depression Research Program and the principal
investigator for the Yale site in this national, multi-site study, says
the current research has the potential to change the way people are
treated in emergency rooms and other settings "in the very near future." "If it works," he explains, "it will have a profound impact on our ability to help people are who suicidal."
