Bipolar disorder (BPD) is one of the most severe psychiatric disorders and ranks in the top 10 causes of medical disability worldwide. The lifetime prevalence is approximately 4% in the United States,¹ with depressive symptomatology dominating the longitudinal course of the illness.² Currently approved treatments for bipolar depression include lithium, quetiapine, and the combination olanzapine and fluoxetine. Other treatments used during the depressive phase of the illness include lamotrigine, antidepressants, and atypical antipsychotics. However, many patients with bipolar depression do not respond adequately to these medications despite adequate trials.^2-4 Another limitation of existing therapeutics is that they are associated with a considerable lag of onset; only a fraction of patients meet response criteria by the end of the first week of treatment.^5-7 This delayed onset of antidepressant effects can result in considerable morbidity, including increased suicide risk.^8,9 Therefore, rapid-onset pharmacological strategies with pronounced and sustained effects would have an enormous impact on public health; this is particularly true because BPD is perhaps the psychiatric disorder with the highest mortality rate.¹⁰

Suicidal ideation is a medical emergency, especially when severe. Little research has been done on pharmacologic interventions that could address this problem. Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-asparate antagonist, has been reported to have antidepressant effects within hours. We examined the effects of a single dose of ketamine on suicidal ideation in subjects with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD). Thirty-three subjects with DSM-IV-diagnosed MDD received a single open-label infusion of ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) and were rated at baseline and at 40, 80, 120, and 230 minutes postinfusion with the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI), the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory. The study was conducted between October 2006 and January 2009. Suicidal ideation scores decreased significantly on the SSI as well as on the suicide subscales of other rating instruments within 40 minutes; these decreases remained significant through the first 4 hours postinfusion (P < .001). Ten subjects (30%) had an SSI score ≥ 4 at baseline; all these scores dropped below 4 (9 dropped by 40 minutes and 1 by 80 minutes). For those patients with a starting score below 4 on the SSI, only 1 reached a score of 4. Depression, anxiety, and hopelessness were significantly improved at all time points (P < .001). Suicidal ideation in the context of MDD improved within 40 minutes of a ketamine infusion and remained improved for up to 4 hours postinfusion. Future studies with ketamine in suicidal ideation are warranted due to the potential impact on public health. clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00088699.