Ketamine has made waves with its potential for treating major depressive disorder and mood disorders, but rarely do you hear of it being used to treat patients with eating disorders. New research from Denver’s Eating Recovery Center and Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center highlights this important, underrecognized potential use of ketamine. With their new study, Elizabeth Wassenaar, MD, MS, DFAPA, CEDS-C, and her team have become the first in the world to demonstrate that ketamine can be administered safely in higher levels of care, even when patients are actively struggling with an eating disorder or malnutrition.
Psychiatric Times sat down with Wassenaar to better understand how ketamine can be used for patients with eating disorders, and how she and her team unlocked the potential of this treatment.
Psychiatric Times: Why this news is important for psychiatrists and mental health clinicians to see?