P.E.A.K: Patients' Experiences After Ketamine_Version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Ketamine treatment regime and its link to dissociative side-effects. A study examining the relationship between ketamine, as a treatment for depression, and the dissociative side-effects that the drug produces, depending on the route of administration and time of day.
IRAS ID
334792
Contact name
Vasileia Kotoula
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
KCL
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Depression affects approximately 1 in 6 adults in the UK, making it one of the most common mental health disorders. Treatments usually involve a combination of life-style changes, talking therapies, and medication. Despite its prevalence, treatments for depression have limitations: commonly prescribed antidepressant medications usually take 4-6 weeks to take effect, and 1 in 4 patients do not respond to antidepressant treatments (Fornaro et al., 2019).
In recent years, ketamine, a widely used anaesthetic,has shown potential as an antidepressant treatment (Muscat et al., 2021). Though this is promising, ketamine’s administration is linked to dissociative side-effects, which include loss of connection between thoughts, memories, feelings, surroundings, behaviour, and identity. These dissociative experiences are usually unpleasant and cause anxiety (Park et al., 2019). The intensity of these side effects, however, could differ based on the way ketamine is administered as well as the time of day that the treatment is given.
To investigate this, we are conducting a study funded by King's College London. We will recruit adults with depression who are receiving ketamine as part of their antidepressant treatment regime. If they would like to take part, they will be asked to fill in online questionnaires, using the reseach platform Qualtrics, that aim to assess any dissociative effects related to their treatment as well as their overall treatment experience. Data collection will take place at 11 distinct timepoints -before and after the participants' ketamine treatment. The time that each participant will remain in the study would vary depending on their treatment regime with the maximun duration to be 6 months. Using this data, our study would further understanding of how the different possible administrations (route and time-of-day) of ketamine may influence the treatment experience.REC name
London - Dulwich Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/LO/0144
Date of REC Opinion
17 Apr 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion