Here is a list of recommended readings about therapeutic ketamine, organized by topic. (This list will be updated periodically.) Please think of this list as a “tasting menu” of various important aspects of therapeutic ketamine treatment. For an exhaustive list of reference materials, please go to PubMed. On this website, you can also find a list of books about therapeutic ketamine, and articles that cite Dr. Bennett specifically.
ESSENTIAL READING
Bahji, A., Zarate, C. A., Vazquez, G. H. (2022). Efficacy and safety of racemic ketamine and esketamine for depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Expert Opin Drug Saf. (06/21/22). 853-866. DOI: 10.1080/14740338.2022.2047928
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35231204/
Bennett, R. (2019). Paradigms of ketamine treatment. MAPS Bulletin, 29(1).
https://maps.org/news/bulletin/articles/436-maps-bulletin-spring-2019-vol-29,-no-1/7718-paradigms-of-ketamine-treatment-spring-2019
Sewell, A. (2007). Ketamine: Peril and promise. MAPS Bulletin, XVII (1).
https://maps.org/news-letters/v17n1-html/ketamine-peril_and_promise.html
BACKGROUND & HISTORY
Domino, E. (1965). Taming the Ketamine Tiger. Republished in Anesthesiology (Sept 2010, vol 113), 678-684.
https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0b013e3181ed09a2
McIntyre, R. S., Rosenblat, J. D., Nemeroff, C. B., Sanacora, G., Murrough, J. M., … Zarate, C. A. (2021). Synthesizing the evidence for ketamine and esketamine in treatment-resistant depression: An international expert opinion on the available evidence and implementation. American Journal of Psychiatry (03/17/21).
doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20081251
Oaklander, M. (2017). New hope for depression. TIME.
https://time.com/magazine/us/4876068/august-7th-2017-vol-190-no-6-u-s/
Ryan, W. C., Marta, C. J., & Koek, R. J. (2014). Ketamine and depression: A review. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 33(2), 40–74. DOI: 10.24972/ijts.2014.33.2.40
http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2014.33.2.40
Sanacora, G., Frye, M. A., McDonald, W., Mathew, S. J., Turner, M. S., Schatzberg, A. F., Summergrad, P., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2017). A consensus statement on the use of ketamine in the treatment of mood disorders. JAMA Psychiatry, 74(4), 399-405. DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.0080
https://adaa.org/sites/default/files/Ketamine%20JAMA%20Journal%20Article%20-%20Charlie%20Nemeroff.pdf
Thielking, M. (2018). Is the ketamine boom getting out of hand? Scientific American, 09/26/18.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-ketamine-boom-getting-out-of-hand/
DISSOCIATIVE & PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Kolp, E., Friedman, H. L., Krupitsky, E., Jansen, K., Sylvester, M., Young, M. S., & Kolp, A. (2014). Ketamine psychedelic psychotherapy: Focus on its pharmacology, phenomenology, and clinical applications. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 33(2), 84-140.
https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2014.33.2.84
Krupitsky, E. M., & Grinenko, A. Y. (1997). Ketamine psychedelic therapy (KPT): A review of the results of ten years of research. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 29(2), 165-183.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1997.10400185
Kungurtsev, I. (1991). “Death-rebirth” psychotherapy with ketamine. The Albert Hoffman Foundation Bulletin.
http://whale.to/b/kungurtsev.html
Luckenbaugh, D. A., Niciu, M. J., Ionescu, D. F., et al. (2014). Do the dissociative side effects of ketamine mediate its antidepressant effects? Journal of Affective Disorders, 159, 56-61.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4065787/
Mathai, D., Mathew, S. J., Storch, E. A., & Kosten, T. R. (2018). Revisiting the hallucinogenic potential of ketamine. Psychiatric Times, 35(6).
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/revisiting-hallucinogenic-potential-ketamine
Mathai, D. S., Meyer, M. J., Storch, E. A., & Kosten, T. R. (2020). The relationship between subjective effects induced by a single dose of ketamine and treatment response in patients with major depressive disorder: A systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 264, 123-129.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.12.023
COMBINING KETAMINE WITH PSYCHOTHERAPY
Dore, J., Turnipseed, B., Dwyer, S., Turnipseed, A., Andries, J., Ascani, G., Monnette, C., Huidekoper, A., Strauss, N., & Wolfson, P. (2019). Ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP): Patient demographics, clinical data and outcomes in three large practices administering ketamine with psychotherapy, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 51(2), 189-198. DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2019.1587556
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02791072.2019.1587556
Gold, V. & Sienknecht, E. (2020) Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy online? Psychedelic Support, 06/19/2020.
www.psychedelic.support/resources/ketamine-assisted-psychotherapy-online/
Greenway, K. T., Garel, N., Jerome, L. & Feduccia, A. (2020). Integrating psychotherapy and psychopharmacology: Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and other combined treatments. Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2020.1772054
Katzman, J. (2018). Rapid depression remission and the “therapeutic bends” with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Psychedelics Today.
https://www.healingrealmscenter.com/blog/rapid-depression-remission-and-the-therapeutic-bends
Kolp, E., Young, S. M., Freidman, H., Krupitsky, E., Jansen, K., & O’Connor, L. (2007). Ketamine-enhanced psychotherapy: Preliminary clinical observations on its effects in treating death anxiety. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 26(1), 1–17.
http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2007.26.1.1
Mathai, D., Mora, V. & Garcia-Romeu, A. (2022). Toward Synergies of Ketamine and Psychotherapy. Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 13.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.868103
Wilkinson, S. T., Wright, D., Fasula, M. K., Fenton, L., Griepp, M., Ostroff, R. B., & Sanacora, G. (2017). Cognitive behavior therapy may sustain antidepressant effects of intravenous ketamine in treatment-resistant depression. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 86(3), 162–167. DOI: 10.1159/000457960
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5516265/
YOUNGER & OLDER PATIENTS
Cullen, K. R., Amatya, P., Roback, M. G., Albott, C. S., Westlund Schreiner, M., Ren, Y., … & Reigstad, K. (2018). Intravenous ketamine for adolescents with treatment-resistant depression: an open-label study. Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology, 28(7), 437-444. DOI: 10.1089/cap.2018.0030
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30004254
Gardner, C. (2017). Case report reveals successful treatment of adolescent depression with ketamine. Yale School of Medicine.
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/14682/
George, D., Gálvez, V., Martin, D., Kumar, D., Leyden, J., … & Loo, C. (2017). Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Titrated Subcutaneous Ketamine in Older Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25(7), 1199-1209. DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.06.007
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1064748117303512?via%3Dihub
Papolos, D., Frei, M., Rosssigtnol, D., Mattis, S., Hernandez, L. C. & Teicher, M. H. (2018). Clinical experience using intranasal ketamine in the longitudinal treatment of juvenile bipolar disorder with fear of harm phenotype. Journal of Affective Disorders, 225, 545-551. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.08.081
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032717305888
Turban, J. (2017). The ketamine breakthrough for suicidal children. Scientific American.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ketamine-breakthrough-for-suicidal-children/
Zarrinnegar, P., Kothari, J., & Cheng, K. (2019). Successful use of ketamine for the treatment of psychotic depression in a teenager. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 29(6), 472-473. DOI: 10.1089/cap.2019.0028
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31161948
BIPOLAR DISORDER
Bennett, R., Yavorsky, C. & Bravo, G. (2022). Ketamine for bipolar depression: biochemical, psychotherapeutic, and psychedelic approaches. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.867484
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.867484/full
POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
Liriano, F., Hatten, C., & Schwartz, T. L. (2019). Ketamine as treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder: A review. Drugs in context, 8, 212305. DOI: 10.7573/dic.212305
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6457782/
Halstead, M., Reed, S., Krause, R. & Williams, M. (2021). Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD related to racial discrimination. Clinical Case Studies, 20(4), 310-330. DOI: 10.1177/1534650121990894
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1534650121990894
Ross, C., Jain, R., Bonnett, C. J., & Wolfson, P. (2019). High-dose ketamine infusion for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, 31(4), 271-279.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31675388
OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER
Bottemanne, H., & Arnould, A. (2021). Ketamine augmentation of exposure response prevention therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Innovations in clinical neuroscience, 18(10-12), 9–11.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8794478/
Rodriguez, C. I., Kegeles, L. S., Flood, P., & Simpson, H. B. (2011). Rapid resolution of obsessions after an infusion of intravenous ketamine in a patient with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 72(4), 567–569. DOI: 10.4088/JCP.10l06653
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3727240/
Rodriguez, C. I., Wheaton, M., Zwerling, J., Steinman, S. A., Sonnenfeld, D., Galfalvy, H., & Simpson, H. (2016). Can exposure-based CBT extend the effects of intravenous ketamine in obsessive-compulsive disorder? An open-label trial. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 77(3), 408–409. DOI: 10.4088/JCP.15l10138
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5544939/
EATING DISORDER
Calabrese, L., Scolnick, B., Zupec-Kania, B., Beckwith, C., Costello, K. & Guido, F. (2022). Ketogenic diet and ketamine infusion treatment to target chronic persistent eating disorder psychopathology in anorexia nervosa: a pilot study. Eating and Weight Disorders. DOI: 10.1007/s40519-022-01455
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-022-01455-x
Mills, I. H., Park, G. R., Manara, A. R. & Merriman, R. J. (1998) Treatment of compulsive behaviour in eating disorders with intermittent ketamine infusions. QJM International Journal of Medicine, 91(7), 493-503. DOI: 10.1093/qjmed/91.7.493
https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article/91/7/493/1598067
Skolnick, B., Zupec-Kania, B., Calabrese, L., Aoki, C. & Hildebrandt, T. (2020). Remission from chronic anorexia nervosa with ketogenic diet and ketamine. Frontiers in Psychiatry. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00763
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00763/full
SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS
Dakwar, E., Anerella, C., Hart, C. L., Levin, F. R., Mathew, S. J., & Nunes, E. V. (2014). Therapeutic infusions of ketamine: Do the psychoactive effects matter? Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 136, 153–157. DOI :10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.12.019
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4091719/
Dakwar E., Nunes, E.V., Hart, C.L., Hu, M.C., Foltin, R.W., & Levin, F. R. (2018) A sub-set of psychoactive effects may be critical to the behavioral impact of ketamine on cocaine use disorder: Results from a randomized, controlled laboratory study. Neuropharmacology, 142, 270-276. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.01.005.
https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/6033686
Dakwar, E., Nunes, E. V., Hart, C. L., Foltin, R. W., Mathew, S. J., Carpenter, K. M.,… & Levin, F. R. (2019). A single ketamine infusion combined with mindfulness-based behavioral modification to treat cocaine dependence: A randomized clinical trial. American Journal of Psychiatry, 176(11), 923-930. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.01.005
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.18101123
Jones, J. L., Mateus, C. F., Malcolm, R. J., Brady, K. T., & Back, S. E. (2018). Efficacy of ketamine in the treatment of substance use disorders: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in psychiatry, 9, 277. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00277
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6094990/
Krupitsky, E., Burakov, A., Romanova, T., Dunaevsky, I., Strassman, R., & Grinenko, A. (2002). Ketamine psychotherapy for heroin addiction: immediate effects and two-year follow-up. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 23, 273-283. DOI: 10.1016/s0740-5472(02)00275-1
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10978647_Ketamine_psychotherapy_for_heroin_addiction_Immediate_effects_and_two-year_follow-up
Lalanne, L., Nicot, C., Lang, J. P., Bertschy, G., & Salvat, E. (2016). Experience of the use of ketamine to manage opioid withdrawal in an addicted woman: a case report. BMC Psychiatry, 16(1), 395. DOI: 10.1186/s12888-016-1112-2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5105239/
Rothberg, R., L., Azhari, N., Haug, N., Dakwar, E. (2020) Mystical-type experiences occasioned by ketamine mediate its impact on at-risk drinking: Results from a randomized, controlled trial. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 12/13/2020. DOI: 10.1177/0269881120970879
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0269881120970879
SUICIDALITY
Calabrese, L. (2019). Titrated serial ketamine infusions stop outpatient suicidality and avert ER Visits and hospitalizations. International Journal of Psychiatry Research, 2(6), 1-12.
http://scivisionpub.com/pdfs/titrated-serial-ketamine-infusions-stop-outpatient-suicidality-and-avert-er-visits-and-hospitalizations-918.pdf
SIDE EFFECTS & SAFETY PROFILE
Acevedo-Diaz, E.E., Cavanaugh, G.W., Greenstein, D., Kraus, C., Kadriu, B., Zarate, C.A. Jr, & Park, L.T. (2019). Comprehensive assessment of side effects associated with a single dose of ketamine in treatment-resistant depression. Journal of Affective Disorders.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.028
Andrashko, V., Novak, T., Bunovsky, M., Klirova, M., Sos, P., & Horacek, J. (2020). The antidepressant effect of ketamine is dampened by concomitant benzodiazepine medication. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 08/28/2020. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00844
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00844/full
Feifel, D., Dadiomov, D., & Lee, K. (2020). Safety of repeated administration of parenteral ketamine for depression. Pharmaceuticals 2020, 13(7);
doi:10.3390/ph13070151
Short, B., Fong, J., Galvez, V., Shelker, W., & Loo, C. K. (2018). Side-effects associated with ketamine use in depression: a systematic review. The Lancet Psychiatry, 5(1), 65-78. DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30272-9
http://www.kaimacdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Short-2017-common-side-effects-with-ketamine-for-depression-w.pdf
Singh, J. B. (2019). Elevated blood pressure from Esketamine not major concern. Healio Psychiatry.
https://www.healio.com/psychiatry/depression/news/online/%7B563e1d7d-af5c-4152-9851-4d040a53751e%7D/elevated-blood-pressure-from-esketamine-not-major-concern
ESKETAMINE / SPRAVATO
Anderson, P. (2019). FDA’s rapid approval of Esketamine for severe depression questioned. Medscape.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/921248
Bahji, A., Vazquez, G. H., & Zarate, C. A. (2021). Comparative efficacy of racemic ketamine and esketamine for depression: A systemic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders (278) 542-55.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.09.071
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016503272032766X
Ramos, M. A., Boyd, W., & Alpert, M. D. (2019). Opinion: The new ketamine-based antidepressant is a rip-off; Johnson & Johnson patented a form of the psychedelic with less research and a ridiculous price tag. VICE.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pajkjy/opinion-the-new-ketamine-based-antidepressant-is-a-rip-off
Ross, E. L. & Soeteman, D. I. (2020). Cost-effectiveness of esketamine nasal spray for patients with treatment-resistant depression in the United States. Psychiatric Services, 2020.
https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201900625
MAIL ORDER KETAMINE
Huet, E. (2022). Online ketamine clinics face tougher times after Covid-era boom. Bloomberg News, 11/14/22.
Bloomberg 11-14-22
Love, S. (2021). Psychedelic telemedicine has arrived… What could possibly go wrong? VICE.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkpp3k/psychedelic-telemedicine-has-arrived-what-could-possibly-go-wrong