Ketamine (with John Krystal, MD)

Dr. John Krystal is Chair of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. He is best known for leading the discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine, which paved the way for the first major new antidepressant drug in decades. Here, Dr. Krystal talks about what we’ve learned in the five years since esketamine nasal spray was approved by the FDA, including efforts to predict treatment response, dosage and frequency, safety, and long-term impact. He also discusses advances in our understanding of alcohol use disorder and weighs in on the search for psychiatric biomarkers.

00:00 Introduction
01:01 Dr. Krystal's Research Journey
03:32 What We’ve Learned Since Esketamine’s FDA Approval
05:59 Avoiding Misuse
08:11 Optimizing Dosage
16:25 Predicting Treatment Outcomes
24:17 Ketamine vs. Psychedelics
25:48 Advances in the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder
32:33 Precision Psychiatry and Personalized Treatment Approaches
39:49 Psychiatric Biomarkers
41:03 The Future of Psychiatric Research and Treatment

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Executive Producer: Jon Earle