Special K, a Hallucinogen, Raises Hopes and Concerns as a Treatment for Depression

December 10, 2014

(New York Times) – It is either the most exciting new treatment for depression in years or it is a hallucinogenic club drug that is wrongly being dispensed to desperate patients in a growing number of clinics around the country. It is called ketamine — or Special K, in street parlance. While it has been used as an anesthetic for decades, small studies at prestigious medical centers like Yale, Mount Sinai and the National Institute of Mental Health suggest it can relieve depression in many people whsto are not helped by widely used conventional antidepressants like Prozac or Lexapro.