This study is dedicated to achieving better treatments for suicidal thoughts. Specifically, the investigators are studying the effect of a medication called ketamine to quickly treat suicidal thoughts and depression.
This study is dedicated to achieving better treatments for suicidal thoughts. Specifically, we are studying the effect of a medication called ketamine to quickly treat suicidal thoughts and depression. Patients will be asked to participate in a research study to study how the use of a medication, ketamine, decreases your suicidal thoughts and improves their symptoms of depression. Ketamine is approved by FDA for use at higher doses in anesthesia, and recent clinical research suggests that it might benefit patients with major depressive disorder and suicidal thoughts. During clinical trials with over 10,000 patients, ketamine was proved to be safe as an anesthetic and studies with hundreds of patients with depression have demonstrated safety and lack of lasting side effects. This is a pilot study to test a new use of ketamine: treatment of suicidal thoughts. The study medication will be given in addition to usual psychiatric care.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Enrollment
18
University of Alabama Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Suicidality
Scales and questionnaires using the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation. The Beck Scale is a self-report questionnaire. The items on this scale identify the presence and severity of suicidal ideation. Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation has 19 items,preceded by a 5 item screener. Each item is rated on a 3 point scale from 0 to 2. Scores range from 0 to 48. Total scoreScores of 0 - 16 indicate low risk for suicide; scores of 16 or greater indicate higher risk for suicide.
Time frame: 2 hours
Depression
Scales and Questionnaire using the MADRS (Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale) . This is a ten item diagnostic questionnaire used to measure the severity of depressive episodes in patients with mood disorders. the scale: 0 - 6 (normal/symptom absent), 7 - 19 (mild depression), 20 - 34 (moderate depression), and \> 34 (severe depression).The overall score ranges from 0 to 60
Time frame: 2 hours
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