Telehealth at-home ketamine therapy sessions are a safe and "incredibly effective" treatment for depression and anxiety, clinicians in charge of a recent study published in Journal of Affective Disorders reported.
The study was led by Leonardo Vando, MD, medical director of Mindbloom, a psychiatric telehealth platform that uses at-home ketamine therapy. Participants were 1,200 adults diagnosed with severe anxiety, moderate to severe depression, or both. They took part in four sessions of at-home sublingual ketamine therapy, led by Mindbloom clinicians.
"This study demonstrated that at-home treatments can be incredibly effective with a low rate of side effects, especially when compared against studies for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors," Dr. Vando said in the report.
Almost 63 percent of patients felt 50 percent or greater reduction in their anxiety or depression symptoms, and many reported less frequent suicidal thoughts. Less than 5 percent of patients reported negative side effects of the treatment.