ArticleTherapeutic advances in drug safety2025
Abuse liability for esketamine in a cohort of patients undergoing an acute treatment course to manage treatment-resistant depression: a secondary analysis of an observational study in real-world clinical practicee.
Article in Therapeutic advances in drug safety, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- [(Es)ketamine: practice update].Der Nervenarzt · 2026Review
- Case report of S-ketamine as treatment option for suicidal ideation and treatment-resistant depression in adolescents with early-onset psychosis.Neuropsychiatrie : Klinik, Diagnostik, Therapie und Rehabilitation : Organ der Gesellschaft Osterreichischer Nervenarzte und Psychiater · 2026Article
- Treating addiction with an addictive drug: the ketamine paradox revisited.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Mental health professionals' perspective on the use of esketamine in treatment-resistant depression and their motivation to adopt it: a Saudi cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Background: Intranasal (IN) esketamine has become an effective and well-tolerated therapeutic option for the management of treatment-resistant depression within major depressive disorder (MDD-TRD). Despite these promising benefits, given the prevalence of ketamine abuse, concerns remain over the addiction liability that may be associated with esketamine treatment. Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess the real-world abuse liability of this substance by tracking changes in likeability and cravings through an acute treatment course. Design: This is a secondary analysis of a previously published multicenter observational study. Methods: Likeability and craving for esketamine were assessed using the Likeability and Cravings Questionnaire (LCQ) in MDD-TRD patients receiving an acute course of IN esketamine treatment (eight dosing sessions). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and pre-post effect size (Cohen's Results: Twenty-three patients (52.2% female, 43.5 ± 11.9 years old) were assessed. Most patients reported a neutral liking and no cravings for esketamine after their first dosing session. These metrics did not increase significantly by treatment endpoint. MANOVA showed that neither age, sex, baseline depression scores, the presence of side effects, or the study site had a statistically significant impact on LCQ scores either alone or in combination. Conclusion: These results agree with the available literature, showing that an acute course of IN esketamine treatment was not associated with high levels of drug liking or cravings, and this did not increase through the course of eight treatments. Though larger studies are needed, esketamine does not appear to be associated with significant abuse liability when used in an acute course of treatment for patients with MDD-TRD. These are important results for this patient population and for clinical practice.
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