The intranasal esketamine EEG-microstate paper draws a published methodological critique for lacking placebo control within 5 months.

A research paper looked at how a nasal spray version of ketamine (called esketamine, sold as Spravato) affects brain activity patterns — but the study had a design flaw: it didn't include a fake-treatment comparison group. When you give people a powerful drug and don't compare results to people who got nothing, it's hard to know if the effects are real or just expectations. Other scientists are likely to call this out in writing.

Paired prospective design without blinding invites reviewer scrutiny. Rapid 24h effects are expectancy-prone; the field self-corrects on such claims.