Could this nasal spray prevent suicide?
![The U.S. Army is funding research for a nasal spray that may possibly prevent suicide. Dr. Michael Kubek from the Indiana Medical Institute and his team have found that TRH can be released into the human brain more effectively through a spray, in comparison to injections or pills. Dr. Ken Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, shares, the phase directly after starting an antidepressant is a very vulnerable time frame in a patients life; the nasal spray would stabilize them right away, while they wait for the [antidepressants] to do their job.](https://dalquestnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Action_photo_of_nasal_spray_on_a_black_background.jpg)
public domain courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The U.S. Army is funding research for a nasal spray that may possibly prevent suicide. Dr. Michael Kubek from the Indiana Medical Institute and his team have found that TRH can be released into the human brain more effectively through a spray, in comparison to injections or pills. Dr. Ken Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, shares, “the phase directly after starting an antidepressant is a very vulnerable time frame in a patient’s life; the nasal spray would stabilize them right away, while they wait for the [antidepressants] to do their job”.
January 19, 2017
The U.S. Army has donated $3 million to a research group at the Indiana University School of Medicine to help with the making of a nasal spray which releases TRH, a neurochemical thyrotopin-releasing hormone that has the same effect as an antidepressant and may prevent a suicide.
Dr. Michael Kubek and the team are testing the spray to ensure its safety and effectiveness before possibly releasing it to the public- the testing will take approximately three years. Doctors have only been able to transmit the TRH by injections through the spinal cord or by pills, but these methods cannot enter the brain easily. Although, with newer and more advanced technology, the research team have found the nasal cavity to be most reliant in carrying TRH across the barrier between blood veins and the brain.
This research idea derived from the 116 cases of suicide by Army Soldiers since 2012. Suicide is currently the 10th leading cause of death between the ages of 18-65 and it continues to increase. Dr. Ken Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, shares, “the phase directly after starting an antidepressant is a very vulnerable time frame in a patient’s life; the nasal spray would stabilize them right away, while they wait for the [antidepressants] to do their job”.
