The UK’s first ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinic has opened.
This is an exciting and ground-breaking moment for psychiatric treatment in the UK. Whilst the use of ketamine for the treatment of depression is considered a novel treatment, and it currently does not have NICE or BNF licensing for psychiatric use, psychiatrists have been able to prescribe this drug ‘off label’ based on an increasing body of evidence demonstrating its efficacy in the short term with demonstrations of mood change after a single treatment.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) released a statement in February 2017 outlining their cautious and concerned position on the use of this drug in treating depression. They briefly noted that there is a lack of data regarding, optimal dose, mode of administration, long term efficacy and side effects.
Ketamine use can produce a variety of adverse side effects including dizziness, blurred vision, vomiting and restlessness, though these symptoms are noted to resolve transiently within 60 minutes.
In their summary the RCPsych indicated that whilst short term efficacy has been demonstrated, benefits have not been lasting for most patients, and mood can rapidly decline after initial improvement.
This is where the new Awakn clinic in Bristol is hoping to intervene, incorporating psychotherapy whilst a patient is experiencing a “unique mental state.” As Professor David Nutt, the scientific advisor to the clinic has said; “this off label treatment could be the step forward into a new paradigm for psychedelic treatment in psychiatry whereby a pharmacological and psychological approach can be used in tandem to tackle the limitation of short term efficacy and create sustained and lasting change”.
rTMS has been approved by NICE in 2015 as safe and clinically effective for the treatment of depression. It has demonstrated robust results with on average 60% of patients suffering with Major Depressive Disorder going into complete psychiatric remission. For those who do not respond to medication, talking therapies, rTMS and ECT this new psychopharmacological approach may be helpful and there is always reason to celebrate when the field of psychiatric care is broadened and explored.
[Content kindly written by Vinny, our Bristol Practitioner]
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