Well-known drug against postpartum depression

#Wellknown #drug #postpartum #depression

There is currently a shortage of drug treatments specifically for postpartum depression, a condition that can have major negative consequences for the mother and the child. Now researchers in China have tried giving ketamine directly after childbirth and found that it reduced the risk of the women suffering from postpartum depression.

The study included women who came to hospital to give birth and were screened for depression before delivery. Those who qualified, a total of 364 women, were randomly assigned to receive a drip with a low dose of so-called S-ketamine or a placebo. The women were followed up for six weeks, the time frame during which postpartum depression usually manifests itself.

The results, as published in the journal BMJshows that the drug reduced the risk of being affected by 75 percent.

According to Mikael Tiger, senior physician and associate professor of psychiatry at the Karolinska Institutet, it is very important that care finds women who are at risk of suffering or who have suffered from postpartum depression. There is help to be had but without treatment and support it can be very tough.

– Although it is rare, there are some who suffer from severe depression after giving birth and who can even have psychotic symptoms. Women who suffer from severe depression after childbirth usually need to be admitted to psychiatric care, he says.

An anesthetic drug

The good thing about ketamine is that it is well known. From the beginning, it is an anesthetic drug that has since been shown to be effective against depression. Among other things, it has been used in connection with caesarean section and in previous studies it has been seen that it seems to have an effect against postpartum depression.

Already today, ketamine is used in difficult-to-treat depression, then in the form of a nasal spray. But it is also well studied as an infusion treatment for depression.

– The disadvantage is that it is addictive and that it is classified as a narcotic. But in this study, they tested a single dose and got good results, says Mikael Tiger.

He believes that women with moderate to severe depression could benefit from ketamine, if studies can show that it helps them too.

– Those with the most severe symptoms are currently treated with electrotherapy. But there is a lack of treatment options, which makes this study extra welcome, he says.