ABC7 Chicago I-Team: ‘Revolutionary’ depression treatment

ABC7 Chicago: Ketamine has been hailed as a breakthrough treatment for depression and other disorders. The drug was also in the spotlight this week as medics revealed its key role in the harrowing rescue of a Thai soccer team trapped in a cave last year.

But ketamine’s history as an illicit, trippy party drug has some concerned about potential abuse.

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved one version of this treatment while a rapidly growing cottage industry of ketamine infusion clinics still operate with little oversight.

Some scientists would like patients and practitioners to hold off until there is more robust research about the medication’s long term effects.

But Kimberley Curda, who receives ketamine treatments, said patients who are desperate for help don’t have that much time left.

“Suicidal thoughts are in my head all the time,” she said. “Not like I’m planning, but more like it’s a way out.”

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