NBC News has a good report on a small, new phase 2 clinical study that suggests laughing gas (nitrous oxide) might provide antidepressive benefits for folks who have treatment-resistant depression.
As you might know, ketamine has proven a ground-breaking new treatment for depression by blocking N-methyl-D-asparate receptors in the brain, as opposed to the more traditional serotonin receptors.
Well, researchers suggest laughing gas works via a similar mechanism, and perhaps that’s behind the benefits for treatment-resistant sufferers.
You can read more here, and remember it’s a small study, it’s phase 2 and there’s a lot of work to be done.
Also, this doesn’t, by any means, suggest that traditional SSRIs don’t work.
For some, they work spectacularly well. For others, not. And that’s because we all have different brains and brains are complicated.
