SynthesisFrontiers in psychiatry2026
Ketamine in psychiatry: a systematic review of clinical applications, safety considerations, and emerging challenges.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ketamine has progressed from solely being an anesthetic agent to a drug of rising clinical and research interest due to its distinctive pharmacological properties. Its dissociative properties and rapid-acting antidepressant effects have made it a prominent area of investigation across many medical and psychiatric applications. This systematic review examines ketamine's history, mechanisms of action, clinical uses, and significant challenges. A systematic search of PubMed, SCOPUS, PsycINFO, and other sources, generated peer-reviewed publications that addressed the history of ketamine, its pharmacology, clinical applications, recreational use, safety considerations, and societal consequences. Overall, 106 articles were identified for inclusion in this study. At the receptor level, ketamine is an antagonist of NMDA receptors that triggers a number of downstream effects ranging from heightened glutamate transmission, AMPA receptor activation, increased BDNF expression, synaptogenesis, and mTOR pathway signaling. At the network level, it alters activity within large-scale brain circuits including the default mode network, affecting cognition, mood, and perception. Clinically, ketamine is used for anesthesia, treatment-resistant depression, and pain, with off-label uses for PTSD, anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorder. The review also examines current challenges related to ketamine's recreational use, associated risks, sociocultural factors, and key clinical and ethical considerations, including safety, monitoring, and telehealth prescribing of oral and sublingual formulations. It integrates previously fragmented research from anesthesiology, neuroscience, pharmacology, psychiatry, and public health, consolidates clinical and ethical guidance, identifies critical gaps in current knowledge, and proposes directions for future research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.