Despite being one of the world's most controversial, taboo narcotics, ketamine therapy is currently going viral as an alternative way to treat trauma, anxiety disorders and depression thanks to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
A TikTok post teasing Season 2 invites you to watch Jen Affleck and husband Zac try ketamine therapy to reconnect as they struggle with their turbulent marriage. In the clip, the couple can be seen entering a clinic, where Jen remarks that ketamine therapy “is supposed to reset a lot of past traumas or habits you've created” and "Zac trying ketamine is a pure example of how much he is willing to do to show up for our relationship."
Bring on the #MomTok.
With a blanket thrown over her in an armchair, and wearing a sleep mask and headphones, Jen begins to experience the effects, commenting that the room seems to be “spinning”…
The question many viewers are asking though is, how does ketamine therapy work? And how safe is it really?
TikTok content
What is ketamine?
Ketamine has some hallucinogenic effects and is probably best known as the club drug ‘Special K’. Or as a horse tranquilliser, because of its short-term dissociative effects that can either leave you unconscious or feeling disconnected from your body.
With that in mind, is it legal in the UK? A class B drug, it's illegal to use ketamine recreationally, but it is licensed as an anaesthetic in UK hospitals (and has been since the 1970s).
What is ketamine therapy?
Because ketamine is licensed to be used by doctors as an anaesthetic, it can be prescribed off licence for depression. Enter ketamine therapy, a treatment that uses low doses of the drug in order to manage various mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety disorders.
Some women are even being given a single-dose infusion of ketamine to treat postpartum depression when psychotherapy and antidepressant medication don't ease the feelings of extreme hopelessness.
Ketamine therapy for mental health issues has been happening in private clinics in the US since around 2010, while in the UK it is available at some private clinics. Jen and Zac had an IV ketamine infusion, which is also the preferred method to administer ketamine therapy here.
According to the Oxford Health NHS Trust, which offers a self-pay ketamine service for those whose depression has not responded to other treatments, the process goes something like this: after assessment, an intravenous dose is calculated on your weight and a needle placed into a vein on the back of the hand.
A pump gradually infuses a low dose of ketamine over 40 minutes. Patients are recommended to bring noise cancelling headphones to appointments and listen to a neutral soundtrack of nonverbal music as it's unlikely to evoke any emotions.
The effects of ketamine only last for 10 days, so after the initial course of IV infusions, you may be prescribed ketamine tablets to take at home once a week to maintain the benefits.
How does ketamine therapy work?
The premise is the same as micro-dosing psychedelic party drugs – the practice of taking thumb-size amounts of magic mushrooms to improve sleep, anxiety and productivity at work.
At higher doses, ketamine knocks people out, and increases paranoia and suicidal thoughts; at lower microdoses, it’s said to make you feel detached and dial down negative thought patterns.
This is because of the way it affects the brain. Unlike conventional antidepressants, which work by boosting the activity of brain chemicals such as serotonin, ketamine appears to impact glutamate, a neurotransmitter thought to play a role in regulating mood. Put simply, it claims to help break the cycle of negative thoughts.
“Ketamine puts the brakes on, and often ideas about suicide and death seem to melt away,” Dr Rupert McShane, a consultant psychiatrist and associate professor at Oxford University, who has led a ketamine trial in the city, tells GLAMOUR. “At its simplest, ketamine helps to rebuild and strengthen connections. However, like conventional antidepressants, most people who are seriously unwell need to keep taking it for years.”
Is ketamine therapy safe?
The jury is still out on whether ketamine therapy is safe.
It has undergone some clinical trials on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2018, a study published by the U.S National Library of Medicine concluded that a single intravenous dose of ketamine had rapid antidepressant effects.
In the UK, doctors did a small study trialling ketamine to treat depression between 2009 and 2014. “Since then we have provided a clinical service to about 400 patients some of whom have continued to take it for 10 years,” says Dr McShane. “About half think it is worth continuing to pay for it.”
But Dr Fritz Swart, a specialist in neuro-rehabilitation in South Africa, who has experience in addiction medicine and treatment of mental health disorders, is more cautious.
“Ketamine is generally reserved for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) – in other words, depression that doesn't respond to an adequate period of using antidepressant medication," says Dr Swart. “The studies that have been done are relatively small and not robust enough to conclude that this treatment is safe. There are gaps in our knowledge of this drug and uncertainty remains about optimal dosing and duration of treatment. I personally would not consider this, until more research is done.”
What is certain, however, is that there are serious risks associated with taking ketamine without supervision. For one, there is a risk of dependency. “Ketamine is probably about as addictive as vodka," Dr McShane says. "It all depends how much and how often you take it. Some patients need to increase the dose they take to get the same effect so this is why it needs medical supervision.”
Dr Swart also raises alarm bells over the risk of psychosis, "which can also lead to suicidal, agitated and aggressive behaviour," he notes. “It is therefore contra-indicated in people suffering from mental disorders such as Schizophrenia and severe mood disorders, such as depression or mania with secondary psychosis.”
Likewise, the Oxford Health NHS Trust notes on its website that “occasionally people experience a worsening in their depressive symptoms and suicidality, which persists for up to two weeks after taking ketamine.”
So, is ketamine therapy likely to become the next big thing in mental health and more widely accessible if you're having marriage problems like Jen and Zac? Possibly, but until there is more extensive research and those gaps in knowledge are filled, its future, for now, remains unclear.
Time to call quits.
For more from Fiona Embleton, GLAMOUR's Associate Beauty Director, follow her on @fiembleton.
Sign up to our newsletter for more daily content straight to your inbox.
