BILLINGS — Discussions surrounding ketamine have surged following a tragic February incident involving a Wyoming mother who killed her four children then herself after allegedly taking the drug for depression treatment. Toxicology reportsshowed she had large amounts of ketamine in her system.
As mental health professionals increasingly adopt ketamine in clinical settings, experts say understanding its benefits and risks is critical.
Watch the story here:
“It's been around since the early 60s and was originally developed as an alternative to some other anesthetics that are used in surgery,” said Erin Amato, a Billings psychiatrist. “We've been offering it here within our clinic since 2016.”
Amato, who works at Montana Psychiatry & Brain Health Center, was the first medical provider in Billings to prescribe ketamine to patients, and she remains one of the few to use it to counter depression.
“It's a treatment for depression and even PTSD in outpatient clinics,” Amato said.
Typically prescribed for patients who have not responded to traditional oral antidepressants, ketamine treatment with Amato is administered through intravenous infusion or nasal spray. Despite its promising potential, Amato emphasizes the importance of administering ketamine in a controlled medical environment, where patients can be monitored for adverse reactions. Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, increased blood pressure, and feelings of disorientation or detachment.
"It is really important that it's administered in a medical setting where there is that potential to monitor the use of it," she said. "Ketamine is often administered along with multiple other psychiatric medications because depression is very complex."
While the FDA does not endorse ketamine as more effective than other approved treatments, Amato said that many of her patients report feeling relief within 24 hours. The FDA has approved the nasal spray ketamine treatment.
"Seventy to 80% of people reporting greater than 50% improvement in their depression symptoms which is really remarkable even comparing that to the study results that we see from some of the older oral antidepressants," Amato said. “They feel like they've gotten their lives back and sometimes even that they feel like they wouldn't be here if they didn't have that treatment.”
As awareness of ketamine therapy grows, its role in treating depression is an ongoing topic within the medical community.
“There are some internet-based home ketamine companies now that will send ketamine to people's homes, and that's where I get very nervous about people experiencing adverse effects," Amato said. "Ketamine is a controlled substance, and so there is the potential for it to be abused or for people to sell it."
