Ketamine Shows Promise in Repairing Cognitive Decline From Social Isolation

Ketamine shows promise in reversing cognitive decline and mental health issues caused by chronic social isolation. 

Research in both humans and mice suggests that ketamine can restore brain function, improve social cognition, and potentially reduce depression and anxiety linked to loneliness. 

However, while ketamine may aid brain recovery, it doesn’t directly solve loneliness but can make social interactions feel more manageable, fostering better mental health overall.

Let’s take a closer look at this emerging idea.

The Latest Research on Social Isolation

On the icy, barren landscape of Antarctica, German researchers saw an opportunity to test the impact of social isolation on the brain. The study subjects were nine German expeditioners who spent 14 months at the Neumayer III station. Brain scans revealed volume declines in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that’s critical for problem solving and decision making. 

The expeditioners also presented lower levels of a protein that helps nerve cells develop and survive, according to the study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The reduction continued for nearly two months after the team returned from Antarctica. 

Another study found that long-term social isolation may cause increased inflammation levels, faster cognitive decline and mental health issues. However, research in animal models demonstrated the potential to reverse neural changes associated with social isolation. 

Studies also have shown that regions of the brain’s default mode network are larger in chronically lonely people. The default mode network is the part of the brain known to be active when a person is not focused on anything in particular. It’s often involved in excessive daydreaming in lonely individuals, which can lead to less-rewarding personal interactions.  

What Mice Can Tell Us About Loneliness

Ketamine demonstrates promise as a potential treatment for relieving impaired cognitive functioning related to chronic loneliness. Research involving mice showed treatment with (R)-ketamine counteracted a reduction in neural activity due to social isolation. 

When mice received (R)-ketamine treatment, the results showed improved social memory and cognition that had been previously impaired by social isolation. 

While esketamine had no effect, (R)-ketamine successfully restored neural activity patterns in the anterior insular cortex following social contact, reversing the deficits caused by isolation.

Key Findings

• Isolated mice showed poorer cognitive performance
• Researchers observed reduced brain activity in anterior insular cortex, a region of the brain critical for emotional regulation and social cognition
• (R)-ketamine treatment helped restore normal function
• Esketamine showed no improvement effects

Conclusion

As we’ve seen from the Antarctic expedition team and lab mice, human interaction is an important function of mental health. Chronic social isolation can throw off normal brain function and lead to depressive symptoms. 

Humans need contact with other people to stay healthy and maintain their mental well-being. It’s an essential function for infants, who require human interaction to develop their language skills. Social isolation can also increase stress and lead to despair. In addition, the lack of social contact has potential physical impacts, such as heart disease, compromised immune function and increased mortality rates. 

As we’ve seen in our practice, (R)-ketamine can relieve depressive symptoms and help “reboot” the brain. The research on (R)-ketamine’s ability to repair cognitive function in socially isolated people is promising but requires further investigation. Even so, we know that loneliness can coincide with other mental health issues like anxiety and treatment-resistant depression. Ketamine increases glutamate neurotransmission in the brain, which researchers believe is a key to its antidepressant effects. 

Also, brain scans show ketamine can increase neuroplasticity, helping the brain grow new neural pathways and repair damaged ones. 

Ketamine cannot alleviate loneliness on its own, but it can help the brain to heal from cognitive decline related to social isolation and associated symptoms, including depression, anxiety and feelings of hopelessness. People who feel better may feel improved social interactions and a greater sense of connectedness that lessens the likelihood of future bouts of extreme isolation.