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\f0\fs24 \cf0 >> JOANNE: You might have heard about a new drug being used to treat depression,
called Ketamine.\ The treatment suggests that long help relief
happens and long treatment may no longer be true.\
I sat down with a doctor regarding this.\ >> JOANNE: Tell us about the tradition in
treating depression.\ >>> A
lot of people have talked about the biological ring and low levels of neuro transmitters
can be the cause of depression.\ >> JOANNE: If this is the cause how have we
been treat it go for the past couple of decades?\ >> The treatment has been using medications
that actually improve the balance of those neuro transmitters, the most popular are SRIs
that increase those levels in the brain.\ >> JOANNE: Prozack?\
>> Yes, Prozac, and that's been the tradition.\ I would say that in recent years we have learned
more about psychotherapies as well and there are effective psychotherapies in the treatment
for the depression as well, and those may alter the balance not as directly as medications
do.\ >> JOANNE: What new theorys are emerging of
chemically what's happening in our brain?\ >> It's not as simple as increasing neurotransmitters,
they may increase minutes or hours after taking an antidepressant yet someone may not respond
for two or three weeks afterwards.\ So we have looked at the nerve cells, the
neurotransmission, other chemicals that affect that, we have looked at genetic causes and
I think the leading theorys now are that it's multifactorial, that there are psychological
factors, social factors, and biological factors and there is an interaction between the two
and interesting studies looking at connection between genetics and stress and people who
are vulnerable are more likely to get stressed under the same pressures, and the genetic
vulnerability itself does not lead to depression but the stress on top of it can.\
>> JOANNE: How does treatment change?\ >> It opens the door for more experimentation
and lots of newer treatments and newer psychotherapy and medications and, in fact, some of the
exciting new medications don't affect those neurotransmitters, at least not direct and
may affect other targets in the brain in order to be effective for depression.\
>> JOANNE: I want to talk about Ketamine now, some know this as a drug that people are using
on the street to get high, but also this is being used now in an experimental basis and
apparently you inject it and within hours this fog of depression lifts.\
What do you know about it?\ >> It's an interesting drug, been around for
a while, started out as an anesthetic in animal and veterinarians thought it was a wonderful
drug and it's used in some cases with humans as an anesthetic now, and it's found to be
used with IV formulation and someone found to be dressed\'a0 depressed may be a different
person within minutes.\ It doesn't last and even if the depression
is totally eradicated it may be for days or a week at most, and it's like people with
PCP, you can use it too much, so it's not ideal but it's providing great hope that we
might be able to find medications like that that can be given orally that may have much
faster actions than the present antidepressants and potentially be more effective.\
>> JOANNE: Quickly before we go, we know that here in San Diego they're experimenting with
this drug aren't they?\ >> Right there are two studies, one at UCSD,
Dr.\'a0David Fifle is using it for those who have not responded to traditional therapies
and there is a study in the San Diego hospice where people who are there who are dying don't
have weeks to wait if they're depressed and it can be an incredible treatment if effective
and tolerated.\ So those are two places where interesting
studies are being done.\ >> JOANNE: Dr.\'a0Sidney Zisook, thank you
for being here.\ >>> Thank you.\
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