TIME

The club drug ketamine may treat depression—but the risks could be big

For depression that hasn’t responded to typical treatments, ketamine shows promise

FOR DOCTORS AND THE PEOPLE they care for, depression can be a vexing condition. It’s common—about 16% of American adults will be clinically depressed at some point in their lives—and yet about a third of those cases won’t respond to the standard treatments of antidepressants and psychotherapy. Stubborn depression can have dire long-term effects on people’s health and well-being: those with treatment-resistant depression tend to die nine years earlier, on average, than those whose

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