The club drug ketamine may treat depression—but the risks could be big

FOR DOCTORS AND THE PEOPLE they care for, depression can be a vexing condition. It’s common—about 16% of American adults will be clinically depressed at some point in their lives—and yet about a third of those cases won’t respond to the standard treatments of antidepressants and psychotherapy. Stubborn depression can have dire long-term effects on people’s health and well-being: those with treatment-resistant depression tend to die nine years earlier, on average, than those whose mental