According to a study published in the journal Nature Communications, a single dose of ketamine may be able to curb harmful drinking behavior by rewriting drinking memories.
The researchers of the study said that when ketamine is coupled with an exercise involving beer that pulls memories of alcohol to the foreground, there is evidence that ketamine can disrupt how the brain associates these cues, such as the taste and smell of beer, to its perceived reward. This can make relapse to less likely happen.
Study author Ravi Das, an associate professor at University College London who specializes in psychopharmacology said that the taste and smell of beer are the kinds of associations that they were trying to break down. They were not talking about people's explicit recollection of the fact that they drank in the past.
Effects of ketamine
Ketamine is a medication that is used in hospitals mainly as an anesthetic, though it has also been used illegally as a club drug, usually called as Special K. It creates an intense high and dissociative effects.
Dr. Henry Kranzler, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study said that it is an intriguing approach that builds on existing literature in a couple of areas.
Earlier studies have explored ketamine for cocaine, alcohol and opioid addiction, but a lot had small sample sizes, limited follow-up and lack of placebo, according to experts. Das stated that it is also difficult to blind participants to whether they've received ketamine or a placebo because of its strong effects.
The other research showed the drug's potential to counter suicidal ideation and depression. A relative of ketamine, called esketamine and also known as Spravato, sold in the form of a nasal spray, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment-resistant depression.
The link between ketamine and drinking
The new study recruited 90 people who drink beer and with harmful drinking patterns from internet ads, and they separated them into groups. The first group are those who underwent an exercise involving alcohol-related cues and received intravenous ketamine in a controlled environment. The second group are those who completed the exercise but received a placebo, and the last group who received ketamine alone.
While the authors said that the participants showed a clearly harmful and problematic pattern of drinking, they were not seeking treatment for an alcohol use disorder and had not been formally diagnosed with such.
However, there was some heterogeneity between the three groups. While the first group reduced their drinking to the largest degree, they also happened to drink more, to begin with, thus their consumption was more likely to decline. It is a phenomenon known as regression to the mean.
After the treatment, there was not a significant difference between the three groups in terms of how much alcohol they drank. Nine months later, the average weekly consumption was roughly the same across the board. The authors of the study said that this may have been influenced by losing participants to follow-up.
The researchers said that the findings are promising, but the claim that the full treatment protocol leads to unprecedented, long-lasting reductions in alcohol consumption is not justified based on the data.
The researchers pointed out other layers to the data, but those who completed the exercise and received ketamine had less desire to drink, and they drank less frequently. Also, there was a correlation among the group between concentrations of ketamine and its breakdown products in the blood, and the reduction in how much the participants drank.
Das pointed out other layers to the data, however: "Those who completed the exercise and received ketamine had less desire to drink, and they drank less frequently. Also, there was a correlation among that group between concentrations of ketamine and its breakdown products in the blood, and the reduction in how much each participant drank."
