Ketamine in Bipolar Disorder: A Review
Cubała, W. J., Szałach, L., Wilkowska, A.
This review (2020) investigates the potential of ketamine for the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). Although studies with BD and ketamine are limited, studies on (unipolar) depression and neurological effects of ketamine (e.g. BDNF levels) show positive signals.
Abstract
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric illness associated with high morbidity, mortality and suicide rate. It has neuroprogressive course and a high rate of treatment resistance. Hence, there is an unquestionable need for new BD treatment strategies. Ketamine appears to have rapid antidepressive and antisuicidal effects. Since most of the available studies concern unipolar depression, here we present a novel insight arguing that ketamine might be a promising treatment for bipolar disorder.