The Effect of Intravenous Ketamine on Non Suicidal Self Injuries.
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2024-02-24
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Non-suicidal self-injuries (NSSI) is a deliberate harm a person causes directly to their
body, resulting in structural or functional damage, without suicidal ideation. This behavior
is related to unbearable internal stress, thoughts, or mental pain, which NSSI assists in
dismantling. To date, there is no generally approved therapy that assists in lowering NSSI.
Ketamine is a sedative drug, presently at the focus of psychopharmacologic research, which
was found to improve depression, when taken orally, and lower suicidal ideation, when given
intravenously. Our aim is to assess the efficiency of intravenous ketamine in decreasing NSSI
symptomology in women with a history of childhood sexual abuse presenting with such behavior.
Participants will be recruited among hospitalized patients from the Tel-Aviv Medical Central
psychiatric ward, who will present with either NSSI urges or behavior. The study design is a
randomized control, double blind trial. Each patient will be assessed before, during, and
after the trial by physical examination, blood tests and questionnaires. The patients will be
randomized into research group (treated by ketamine and midazolam intravenously) or control
group (treated intravenously via midazolam only). Our hypothesis is that treatment by
intravenous ketamine will lower NSSI symptomology, and enable optimal treatment while being
hospitalized.