Ketamine. A Review of its Current Uses and Future Possibilities

Academic Paper from the year 2020 in the subject Medicine - Pharmacology, Pharmacy, University of California, Los Angeles, language: English, abstract: Authors: Joseph Parampathu and Blake NawrockiOver the years our expectations of ketamine and its therapeutic effects has grown to encompass fields of use including depression therapy, analgesic effects, and hallucinatory models for schizophrenic pathology. Currently, the majority of studies aimed at understanding the psychopathology of ketamine and its unique composition and breakdown in the human blood stream have focused on the potential of this chemical to lead to hypo realistic drowsiness and a dreamlike state. The dreamlike state is characterized by mild hallucinatory images similar to the mild schizophrenic symptoms characteristic of phencyclidine (PCP) and their combination in the more historically fused optically developed regions of the brain. We seek to lay out a foundational summary of the available body of study on ketamine and its physiology as well as its potential to add to the medical discourse.