Today is the second class of our current four class set. We will begin class with a casual conversation. Our reading this week is about cafe etiquette and our listening is about ketamine. Please listen and follow the transcript.
Click HERE for the reading
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The anesthetic ketamine has become a popular treatment for severe depression. Now, scientists report that the benefits last longer when treatment includes a large dose of computer games. Here's NPR's Jon Hamilton.
JON HAMILTON, BYLINE: An intravenous dose of ketamine can relieve depression in hours and often rescues patients who haven't responded to other drugs. But Rebecca Price, a psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh, says the effects tend to wear off after a week or two.
REBECCA PRICE: And then returning for infusions over and over to keep that relief going can end up being really burdensome and costly and just isn't accessible to all patients.
HAMILTON: So Price and a team of researchers wanted to find a way to make ketamine's antidepressant effects last longer. They decided to focus on one particular symptom.
PRICE: Low self-esteem and even quite severe self-loathing is quite typical to see in the context of depression.
HAMILTON: The team drew on research suggesting that ketamine temporarily causes certain brain areas to enter a state in which they form lots of new connections. Price says, during this period, the brain seems to be more receptive to learning and change.
PRICE: So we tried to use that window of opportunity just after ketamine to strengthen associations, specifically between the idea of me, myself and positive information and attributes.
HAMILTON: The team did a study of 154 people, including a group that played special computer games for several days after they received an infusion of ketamine. Some of these games involved words. And Price says, every time the word I appeared, it was followed by a positive term.
PRICE: Good, lovable, sweet, worthy, etc.
HAMILTON: Price says other games used images. For example, participants were asked to click on a photo as soon as it flashed on one area of the screen.
PRICE: But every time they click on their own photo, what appears right afterwards in that same location is a smiling face.
HAMILTON: Price says the games had a surprisingly powerful effect, which the team described in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
PRICE: By doing these really simple computer exercises for just four days after the infusion and then nothing further, we could extend the antidepressant effect of one infusion of ketamine for at least a month, and it's looking like it was actually closer to three months.
HAMILTON: If those results hold up, the approach could make ketamine treatment much more affordable. Dr. Sanjay Mathew is a professor of psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and a co-author of the study. He says, right now, insurance rarely covers the treatment.
SANJAY MATHEW: Ketamine infusions can cost anywhere from $300 to $800 or even higher. So that's obviously a huge challenge for many patients and the biggest reason we can't send more patients to ketamine.
HAMILTON: And Mathew says that, because therapists are in such short supply, mental health centers would welcome a computerized addition to ketamine therapy.
MATHEW: It could be disseminated widely in clinics that don't have resources to be able to engage in any number of psychotherapies that work on self-esteem and beliefs about oneself.
HAMILTON: Mathew says even the busiest clinic has time for a smile or two. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.
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