Ketamine, once known for its club-enhancing effects, is now an FDA-approved antidepressant. Here's what it does to your brain.

Ketamine is what scientists call a"dirty drug," meaning it doesn't just target one system in your brain, but dozens.Following is a transcript of the video.Breaking news. The 10-day ordeal, 12 young boys and their soccer coach found alive in a flooded cave in Thailand.Remember when that happened? It was one of the most difficult rescue missions of all time, involving as many as 10,000 people, and now we know that rescuers gave the boys a drug which helped the mission succeed.

Ketamine was first synthesized in the 1960s as an anesthetic, a sedative. That's why it was so useful in the rescue mission. But ketamine actually has a lot of different uses. In the '80s, it became a popular club drug, gaining nicknames like Special K and Cat Valium, and more recently, in early 2019, a form of ketamine was approved by the FDA as an antidepressant.

So how does a drug that's so multipurpose actually work? Ketamine is what scientists call a dirty drug. That means it doesn't just target one system in your brain, but dozens. It has a weak effect on opiate receptors in the dopamine system, which drugs like heroin and cocaine target. But most importantly, ketamine manipulates a neurotransmitter called glutamate, earning it the attention of psychiatrists nationwide.

Now, at high doses, ketamine seems to block glutamate. That's why it's such an effective anesthetic. But in low doses, like what you might find at a club or in a spray of the FDA-approved drug esketamine, it actually ramps up glutamate production, and that comes with all kinds of side effects. It can make you hallucinate or feel as though you're losing touch with reality.

These more traditional drugs may work for some people, but not for everyone. In fact, as many as 4 million American adults have treatment-resistant depression. And for them, well, ketamine might be the only drug out there that can provide relief. That's according to Doctor Andre Atoian. He's the founder of Ketamine Specialists, a clinic where he administers ketamine to patients with mood disorders, pain, and addiction.Ketamine is the agent that works when most others have failed.

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