Background
- Ketamine is a new medicine for depression that works well in the short-term.
- Most ketamine studies have used injections which causes a strong dissociative reaction or “trip”.
- Our study will involve swallowing ketamine liquid which is easier to tolerate.
- One of the recommended talking treatments for depression is called Behavioural Activation Therapy (BAT).
- The aim of our study is to learn if adding BAT to ketamine improves the short-term benefits of ketamine.
Who can participate in this study?
- Healthy volunteers aged with persisting depression after two trials of antidepressant medication
- Aged between 18 and 65 years
- If you have serious medical or other mental health issues including strong self-harm or suicidal thoughts you are not able to participate.
Recruitment Process
You or your treatment provider can contact our research nurses to learn more about the study and ask questions. If you wish to proceed further, we will organise a meeting for more assessment and an informed consent discussion.
What does the study involve?
- Participating in the study is time consuming. You will need to attend our research unit at least twice each week. Most visits will take several hours.
- Each participant will receive ketamine twice weekly for eight weeks. Half the participants will also receive the talking therapy called BAT for eight weeks.
- We will monitor your mood for 12 weeks after treatment finishes to learn if BAT helps to maintain improvements after ketamine treatment ends.
Contact information
Thank you for taking the time to consider being part of this project.
For more details, information or to discuss a referral, please ring +64 3 372 6700 or email our study nurses on psychmednurse@otago.ac.nz.