TED Talk:
The path to better medicine is paved with accidental yet revolutionary discoveries. In this well-told tale of how science happens, neuroscientist Rebecca Brachman shares news of a serendipitous breakthrough treatment that may prevent mental disorders like depression and PTSD from ever developing. And listen for an unexpected — and controversial — twist.

Researchers know how to boost mice's resilience to stress, but can the same techniques be used for humans? Brachman's results consistently showed that there are ways to build resilience to stress, by both injecting immune cells from another animal and giving a dose of ketamine prior to stress.

Is there a link between pain and depression? Pain and depression are closely related. Depression can cause pain — and pain can cause depression.

There might be a drug out there that somehow instills the kind of mental resilience that lets some people go through a horrible experience without reliving it in a distressing way afterward. Not everyone who goes through trauma gets depressed, but those who do have a hard time shaking it. What if instead of treating that depression, it could be prevented?

Researchers have identified the ketamine breakdown product that gives the drug its antidepressant effects, which could lead to faster, more-effective mood stabilizers in the future.

When the antidepressant effects of ketamine were first reported a decade ago, the anesthetic drug seemed likely to change the way doctors treat the most persistent cases of depression. Since 2006, the surgical drug has been shown to work in patients with treatment-resistant depression and provide relief much faster than mood stabilizers like SSRIs.

A chemical byproduct, or metabolite, created as the body breaks down ketamine likely holds the secret to its rapid antidepressant action, National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and grantees have discovered. This metabolite singularly reversed depression-like behaviors in mice without triggering any of the anesthetic, dissociative, or addictive side effects associated with ketamine.