Matthew Perry’s autopsy report says he died of “the acute effects of ketamine,” but the conversation around the anesthetic as treatment for depression is nuanced.

Ketamine has also been used off-label in dozens of clinics across the U.S. to treat other mental health conditions, such as anxiety, in combination with talk therapy.

Ketamine, similarly, can afford its users space between themselves and overwhelming despair, which might help explain how it can treat depression, Mathai, the Miami psychiatrist, said.

Jack Curran became addicted to the party drug ketamine, which he started experimenting with at age 16. Within a few years, it had destroyed his bladder and left him "urinating jelly" and feeling ...

New research shows that the anesthetic ketamine keeps fish from giving up -- and the way it works may help figure out how it works in humans and lead to better medications for depression.