One-year outcomes following intravenous ketamine plus digital training among patients with treatment-resistant depression: A secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial

The authors of this pioneering study write: "Our study found that the rapid effects of ketamine can be made more enduring with simple, portable, digital techniques that would be relatively easy to provide to patients in a wide range of settings. One 40-minute drug administration, followed by 4 days (30-40 min/d) of digital exercises, created a statistical effect on depression that endured for 3 months according to the new follow-up phase data presented here - even in the context of naturalistic treatment changes across all groups. However, this benefit was not sustained in months 4 to 12.  Study limitations include lack of a no-treatment (saline plus sham) group, precluding conclusions regarding the effect of ASAT as a standalone intervention given that all participants received at least 1 active intervention component, and low base rates of clinically impactful outcomes (eg, suicidal events). Future research is needed to make the initial effect size both larger (given persistent mild-to-moderate average depression levels observed in all study groups) and more durable, potentially through repeated drug administrations, booster sessions of the digital therapy (including at-home administration), and/or additional conditioning modules to target other implicit cognitive patterns. Similar techniques could be tested for their potential to produce rapid, efficient, non–resource-intensive, and relatively enduring relief for a wide variety of common psychological conditions, including suicidality, anxiety, and more."

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