Faster-Acting Antidepressants Closer to Becoming a Reality

A new study has revealed more about how the medication ketamine, when used experimentally for depression, relieves symptoms of the disorder in hours instead of the weeks or months it takes for current antidepressants to work. While ketamine itself probably won’t come into use as an antidepressant because of its side effects, the new finding moves scientists considerably closer to understanding how to develop faster-acting antidepressant medications — among the priorities of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health.