Hasler, Gregor Suker, Samir Schoretsanitis, Georgios Mihov, Yoan 2020-07-01 Conventional antidepressants have several important limitations, including a lack of direct effects on negative self-schema, which is at the core of Beck’s cognitive theory of depression. Based on previous studies showing a positive effect of ketamine on negative cognition, we compared reductions in negative self-schema between responders and non-responders to a single infusion of ketamine. In an open-label study, 26 participants with treatment-resistant depression received 0.5 mg/kg ketamine via infusion. Depression symptoms were assessed at baseline, 24 hours, and seven days after treatment with Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Nine of the 26 participants fulfilled response criteria after 24 hours. Of these, eight still fulfilled response criteria after seven days. Response was defined as a reduction in MADRS total score of 50% or more. Responders improved significantly more than non-responders both 24 hours and seven days after ketamine treatment on the following BDI-II items: item 1 (“Sadness”), item 7 (“Self-Dislike”), and item 8 (“Self-Criticalness”). These results suggest an important therapeutic effect of ketamine on negative self-schema, which is a fundamental cognitive aspect of depression. This effect is unique and might be associated with ketamine’s profound effects on neuroplasticity. Small sample size and lack of a placebo control group are the major limitations of this study. application/pdf https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/308866 https://folia.unifr.ch/documents/308866/files/has_sin.pdf eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3389/fnins.2020.00687 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess License undefined Frontiers in Neuroscience. - 2020, vol. 14, p. 687 info:eu-repo/classification/udc/57 Sustained improvement of negative self-schema after a single ketamine infusion: an open-label study http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501