another paper I have a problem with

This article came out yesterday, about a new, fast-acting treatment for depression. Patients who were injected with ketamine had their mood dramatically improved, an effect that lasted about a week. My problem is that ketamine induces temporary, mild euphoria and/or feelings of dissociation. This means that the study was effectively not blinded at all. Placebo effect can be huge and seems especially likely in this case. I know if I were injected with something and then felt even temporary euphoria, or even anything that suggested the drug might be active, I would be far more hopeful about the likelihood of the treatment working, and that would make a big difference in my mood.
The original paper claims that "[t]he improvement associated with ketamine infusion reflects a lessening of core symptoms of depression and is disconnected from ketamine-induced euphoria and psychotomimetic symptoms." Their evidence is that the improvement in mood doesn't come until after the patients recover from the dissociative effects of ketamine, but surely that also supports the idea that the patients realise, after experiencing the side effects, that they've obviously gotten the drug rather than the placebo, and it did something, so it must be working.
They suggest next time testing whether the euphoric effect is required for the improvement in mood, at least. Some other euphoria-inducing drug would be a far better control that just saline.
Still, even if it is a placebo effect, that doesn't mean it can't be helpful.