Ketamine and PCP are examples of which drug class?

Ketamine and PCP are examples of which drug class?

• A. General Depressants
• B. Hallucinogens
• C. Dissociative Anesthetics
• D. Analgesics

Answer: (C)

Ketamine and PCP are dissociative anesthetics. They produce a feeling of detachment from the surrounding environment and from oneself, along with anesthesia and often some analgesia. The key is dissociation—the sense of being separated from reality or the body—which these drugs create more reliably than other drug classes. Their primary action is as NMDA receptor antagonists, which disrupt glutamate signaling in the brain and lead to altered perception, memory gaps, and a trance-like state while also providing analgesic and anesthetic effects. Ketamine is used medically for its dissociative anesthesia and pain relief, while PCP was once explored as an anesthetic but is limited today due to unpredictable, severe psychological effects. This set them apart from general depressants, which broadly slow CNS activity, and from analgesics, which mainly relieve pain without causing dissociation or anesthesia. They share some perceptual effects with hallucinogens, but the defining feature here is the dissociative state paired with anesthesia.

Ketamine and PCP are dissociative anesthetics. They produce a feeling of detachment from the surrounding environment and from oneself, along with anesthesia and often some analgesia. The key is dissociation—the sense of being separated from reality or the body—which these drugs create more reliably than other drug classes. Their primary action is as NMDA receptor antagonists, which disrupt glutamate signaling in the brain and lead to altered perception, memory gaps, and a trance-like state while also providing analgesic and anesthetic effects. Ketamine is used medically for its dissociative anesthesia and pain relief, while PCP was once explored as an anesthetic but is limited today due to unpredictable, severe psychological effects. This set them apart from general depressants, which broadly slow CNS activity, and from analgesics, which mainly relieve pain without causing dissociation or anesthesia. They share some perceptual effects with hallucinogens, but the defining feature here is the dissociative state paired with anesthesia.