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Well, on a drug where you've forgotten the difference between up and down and are now convinced you're able to walk through solid objects, I'm pretty sure you'd

Well, on a drug where you've forgotten the difference between up and down and are now convinced you're able to walk through solid objects, I'm pretty sure you'd forget about being depressed...

Zigurd 12y ago
This is your brain on ONDCP propaganda.
- bbrian 12y ago
  Yeah, that seems a bit uninformed, though lots of people I know who like other drugs don't like ketamine. Cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis, when you're used to it, modify rather than replace what you're feeling. Ketamine can put you on the floor quite easily, with no/a crazy understanding of the world followed by twenty minutes of learning to understand it again. A lot of people don't like that. It can be taken in more moderate doses too, but it's hard to judge how much to take (how long is a line -- the same as a piece of string; tolerance develops quickly) and one can inadvertently take too much. I think it's under-appreciated and find the experience exhilarating.
natdempk 12y ago
I think the key takeaway here was that the anti-depressive effects lasted for days to months afterwards, well past the peak effects/activity of the drug.
jsn 12y ago
I don't know why you are being downvoted. My understanding is that yes, that's more or less how it works. Speaking from experience, whatever it is you are obsessing about, a ketamine trip makes you forget about it for about an hour. I think the main feeling you get when coming down from the trip is that you were just shown a world where your obsession doesn't make any sense, and it's a very good time to question your obsessions.
- veganarchocap 12y ago
  I'm glad you think so! I was making a light-hearted observation and I'm actually 100% in favour of legalising and exploring the potentials of some of these substances for people with severe mental health problems. Mental health problems affect my family deeply and don't think any stone should be left unturned. It's just a shame everyone seemed to jump at me assuming I was criticising it somehow!
- gwern 12y ago
  > I don't know why you are being downvoted. He's being downvoted for making a moronic criticism: what the person feels under the influence of ketamine is obviously irrelevant, of no value for treating depression, this would be just as obvious to the researchers as to him, and so they couldn't possibly have meant that, and indeed, the second sentence of the article says benefits last well beyond the immediate influence.
  - veganarchocap 12y ago
    You're an idiot, I wasn't making a moronic criticism, I happen to be 100% anti-drug prohibition, but yet again on Hacker News, I've been massively down-voted and insulted for making a joke.

Well, on a drug where you've forgotten the difference between up and down and are now convinced you're able to walk through solid objects, I'm pretty sure you'd forget about being depressed...

Zigurd 12y ago

This is your brain on ONDCP propaganda.

bbrian 12y ago
Yeah, that seems a bit uninformed, though lots of people I know who like other drugs don't like ketamine. Cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis, when you're used to it, modify rather than replace what you're feeling. Ketamine can put you on the floor quite easily, with no/a crazy understanding of the world followed by twenty minutes of learning to understand it again. A lot of people don't like that. It can be taken in more moderate doses too, but it's hard to judge how much to take (how long is a line -- the same as a piece of string; tolerance develops quickly) and one can inadvertently take too much. I think it's under-appreciated and find the experience exhilarating.

natdempk 12y ago

I think the key takeaway here was that the anti-depressive effects lasted for days to months afterwards, well past the peak effects/activity of the drug.

jsn 12y ago

I don't know why you are being downvoted. My understanding is that yes, that's more or less how it works. Speaking from experience, whatever it is you are obsessing about, a ketamine trip makes you forget about it for about an hour. I think the main feeling you get when coming down from the trip is that you were just shown a world where your obsession doesn't make any sense, and it's a very good time to question your obsessions.

veganarchocap 12y ago
I'm glad you think so! I was making a light-hearted observation and I'm actually 100% in favour of legalising and exploring the potentials of some of these substances for people with severe mental health problems. Mental health problems affect my family deeply and don't think any stone should be left unturned. It's just a shame everyone seemed to jump at me assuming I was criticising it somehow!
gwern 12y ago
> I don't know why you are being downvoted. He's being downvoted for making a moronic criticism: what the person feels under the influence of ketamine is obviously irrelevant, of no value for treating depression, this would be just as obvious to the researchers as to him, and so they couldn't possibly have meant that, and indeed, the second sentence of the article says benefits last well beyond the immediate influence.
- veganarchocap 12y ago
  You're an idiot, I wasn't making a moronic criticism, I happen to be 100% anti-drug prohibition, but yet again on Hacker News, I've been massively down-voted and insulted for making a joke.