美国国家公共电台 NPR From Chaos To Calm: A Life Changed By Ketamine

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

One of the country's biggest pharmaceutical¹ companies, Johnson & Johnson, is working on a new drug for depression. It's based on ketamine. Ketamine is a common anesthetic². It's also a popular party drug known as Special K. But doctors are using ketamine to treat an increasingly wide range of psychiatric disorders⁴.

NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton joins us now in the studio to talk more about this. Hey, Jon.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE⁵: Hey.

MARTIN: All right. So you have reported a story on this. But first, before we get to that, just tell us a little more about ketamine.

HAMILTON: Well, ketamine is a drug that if you've encountered it, chances are it was in an emergency room. So like, when my kid broke his arm, the drug they used before they set the fracture was ketamine.

MARTIN: Same for my kid. Yeah.

HAMILTON: Yeah. Very effective. And a number of years ago, scientists figured out that ketamine also could be used to relieve depression. This was sort of an accidental discovery. Not only did it relieve depression, but it did it within a matter of hours.

MARTIN: Wow. Within hours?

HAMILTON: Yeah. I mean, it's incredibly fast, especially when you consider that most antidepressants can take weeks to work. And so since then a bunch of psychiatrists⁷ have been prescribing it to their patients even though it's not approved for this purpose.

MARTIN: All right. So what does it do, exactly? What's the effect on the body?

HAMILTON: Ketamine is something they call a dissociative. It kind of interrupts the connection between the mind and the body, which is why you don't feel pain anymore. But it also seems to do a lot of different things in the brain, and that is probably why it is likely to be used with a lot of different psychological problems. So I met a guy who had a lot of problems not too long ago. His name is James. He's an advertising⁸ executive in New York. And this guy, he's doing great now. He's married with kids, and he feels really good.

JAMES: I've really enjoyed my life in the last, you know, five or six years.

HAMILTON: That's how long he's been taking a small dose of ketamine every other day. Before that, things had become pretty bleak⁹ for James, who asked that we not use his full name because doing so might hurt his career. He says even as a child his thoughts were out of control.

JAMES: I always felt like I was crossing a freeway at any given moment and my thoughts were just racing¹⁰ past me, and I would grab one and go with that for a minute.

HAMILTON: James also spent much of his childhood terrified of something he couldn't quite describe.

JAMES: An unknown, an ambiguous force out there. And it was overwhelming. I literally¹¹ slept with the cover over my head with just room to breathe through my mouth until I went to college.

HAMILTON: And there was something else about James - his body temperature.

JAMES: I overheated constantly. I would wear shorts all year long. In my 20s, in my apartment, I would sleep with the windows open in the middle of the winter.

HAMILTON: In his late 20s, James saw a doctor who told him he had attention deficit¹² hyperactivity disorder³. So he started taking stimulants¹³. At first, they helped him focus. Then they didn't no matter how many pills he took. James couldn't work. His mood swings were rapid and extreme, and he was consumed by gruesome thoughts like a murderer coming for his family.

JAMES: My wife took a summer off to be with me 'cause she was scared of what was going to happen to me. She would go to work for a few hours, rush home. There'd be times I'd call her just screaming, please come home; I can't get through another minute.

HAMILTON: Eventually, James found his way to Demitri Papolos, a psychiatrist⁶ in Connecticut who treats a lot of patients like James.

DEMITRI PAPOLOS: He was like a whirling dervish when he came into my office. And he was extremely fearful and scanning the environment all the time, and he overheated at the drop of a hat.

HAMILTON: Papolo says people like James have a syndrome¹⁴ that spans several different diagnoses. These include bipolar disorder, attention deficit, sleep disturbances¹⁵ and PTSD. Papolo says conventional psychiatric drugs often don't help much, but ketamine is different.

PAPOLOS: It's been transformational for this syndrome.

HAMILTON: Ketamine is an anesthetic that's often used on children because it's considered so safe. The drug appears to help people with depression by encouraging their brains to rewire quickly. And this rewiring also could be why ketamine helps people like James who have symptoms of several different psychiatric disorders. Martin Teicher, a psychiatrist at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, says ketamine seems to tweak lots of different circuits in the brain.

MARTIN TEICHER: Anti-anxiety, mood stabilization¹⁶, some degree of antidepressants. So I think it's having, you know, multiple effects and that that means it's probably useful for multiple different disorders.

HAMILTON: Like PTSD, for example.

TEICHER: The animal literature says it is very good in terms of diminishing fear sensitization, which I think is at the core of post-traumatic stress disorder.

HAMILTON: Teicher says ketamine may even prove useful for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

TEICHER: I think it's actually one of the biggest advances in psychiatry¹⁷ in a very long time. I mean, it doesn't work for everybody, but it's sort of remarkable¹⁸ to have a treatment that can work pretty much immediately.

HAMILTON: James says he didn't know much about ketamine when he started taking it six years ago.

JAMES: I had heard of it, you know, as a party drug of some sorts.

HAMILTON: And at first, James was on such a small dose that it didn't do much. But as the dose increased, the effect was dramatic.

JAMES: One day, I turned to my wife. I'm like, I feel calm today. I don't know what it is right now. I don't know if it's the sun coming in. I don't know if it's just the way we're sitting here. But I feel like I could go and sit at the computer and work.

HAMILTON: The next day, James did sit down at his computer. A month later, he got a job.

MARTIN: He got a job. So things are better for him now?

HAMILTON: Yeah. He's doing great.

MARTIN: Johnson & Johnson, though, we referenced them in the intro. That company has been working on a prescription¹⁹ drug based on ketamine. How close is it to being approved and marketed?

HAMILTON: Right. This is a drug called Esketamine, and they're working on a form that you take as a nasal spray. And it has finished what they call Phase 3 trials, which is the last step before you submit it to the FDA for approval. They expect to submit it later this year. And it's possible there could be a drug based on this next year sometime.

MARTIN: Are there risks, though?

HAMILTON: There are risks to ketamine. It's a drug of abuse. People become addicted²⁰ to it sometimes. It can make you hallucinate. And there isn't so much known about what happens when you take it for a long time. People who have abused it for a long time seem to have bladder problems. But beyond that, people really don't know what years of taking ketamine does to you.

MARTIN: And like that doctor said who you spoke²¹ with, it works on some people, doesn't work for other people.

HAMILTON: It does not work for everybody.

MARTIN: All right. NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton for us today. Thanks so much, Jon.

HAMILTON: You're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYMBYC SYSTYM'S "DIFFERENTIAL")

1 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

2 anesthetic   

n.麻醉剂，麻药；adj.麻醉的，失去知觉的

参考例句：

• He was given a general anesthetic.他被全身麻醉。
• He was still under the influence of the anesthetic.他仍处在麻醉状态。

3 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

4 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

7 psychiatrists   

n.精神病专家，精神病医生( psychiatrist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They are psychiatrists in good standing. 他们是合格的精神病医生。 来自辞典例句
• Some psychiatrists have patients who grow almost alarmed at how congenial they suddenly feel. 有些精神分析学家发现，他们的某些病人在突然感到惬意的时候几乎会兴奋起来。 来自名作英译部分

8 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

9 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

10 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

13 stimulants   

n.兴奋剂( stimulant的名词复数 )；含兴奋剂的饮料；刺激物；激励物

参考例句：

• Coffee and tea are mild stimulants. 咖啡和茶是轻度兴奋剂。
• At lower concentrations they may even be stimulants of cell division. 在浓度较低时，它们甚至能促进细胞分裂。 来自辞典例句

14 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

15 disturbances   

n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍

参考例句：

• The government has set up a commission of inquiry into the disturbances at the prison. 政府成立了一个委员会来调查监狱骚乱事件。
• Extra police were called in to quell the disturbances. 已调集了增援警力来平定骚乱。

16 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

17 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

18 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

19 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

20 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

21 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。