Ketamine It is an injectable, short-acting anesthetic for use in humans and animals. Derived from phencyclidine in 1962, ketamine was developed as a safer anesthetic with fewer hallucinogenic effects. At anesthetic doses, it induces a state of dissociative anesthesia, providing pain relief, sedation, and amnesia. Notably, it maintains breathing and airway reflexes, and stimulates heart function. At lower, sub-anesthetic doses, ketamine shows promise for pain management and treatment-resistant depression.