A nasal spray for really bad depression
Efficacy of Intranasal Esketamine in Treatment‐Resistant Depression: A Six‐Month Real‐World Follow‐Up Study of Depressive Symptoms, Hopelessness, and Suicide Risk
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Suicidal ideation prevalence dropped sharply, but intensity scores didn’t significantly improve.
Most assume fewer thoughts = less intense thoughts. But here, people stopped thinking about suicide altogether — even if the intensity of those thoughts didn’t change much, the fact they stopped having them is huge.
Practical Takeaways
If you or someone you know has treatment-resistant depression and suicidal thoughts, ask a psychiatrist about esketamine as a potential option — especially if other treatments failed.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Suicidal ideation prevalence dropped sharply, but intensity scores didn’t significantly improve.
Most assume fewer thoughts = less intense thoughts. But here, people stopped thinking about suicide altogether — even if the intensity of those thoughts didn’t change much, the fact they stopped having them is huge.
Practical Takeaways
If you or someone you know has treatment-resistant depression and suicidal thoughts, ask a psychiatrist about esketamine as a potential option — especially if other treatments failed.
Publication
Journal
Human Psychopharmacology
Year
2025
Authors
Maurizio Pompili, M. A. Trocchia, L. Longhini, E. Dispenza, C. Di Legge, S. Sarubbi, D. Erbuto, I. Berardelli
Related Content
Claims (4)
For people with depression that hasn’t responded to other treatments, using a nasal spray called esketamine for six months may significantly help lift their mood, based on standard depression scores.
For adults with depression that didn’t respond to other treatments, using a nasal spray called esketamine for six months seemed to help fewer people think about suicide — down from more than half to about one in seven — but how strongly they felt those thoughts didn’t clearly get better.
For people with depression that hasn't responded to other treatments, using a nasal spray called esketamine for six months may help them feel less hopeless, based on a survey that measures how hopeless people feel.
A nasal spray called esketamine can help people with severe depression that didn’t respond to other treatments, by fixing how brain cells talk to each other and helping them form better connections.