Why ketamine is not a depression cure-all

While private treatment is offered as alternative to traditional drugs, it won't get to root cause and street version poses a risk

- BY DR RAJ PERSAUD, CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST

Party drug ketamine is illegal on the streets but available in a “closely related” version to treat depression - if you have the £3,000 a year to fund private therapy.

The Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust's Interventional Psychiatry Service advertises a “self-pay, ketamine treatment service for people who have depression which has not responded to other treatments”. However, its website warns: “We provide this service at the lowest cost possible. We do not recommend that you pursue ketamine treatment with us if you would not be able to afford £3,000 per year. Costs may exceed this.”

The initial treatment involves three to six ketamine infusions over three to six weeks. There are also private providers who offer nasal esketamine, which unlike ketamine - a powerful and dangerous anaesthetic and hallucinogen - is licensed for the treatment of depression, but has not been approved for routine NHS use.