Ketamine is a versatile and widely used medicine with clinical applications that include anesthesia, emergency care, and pain management—and more recently, mental health treatment. Yet, its role in mental health can remain misunderstood and sometimes stigmatized. Myths may shape patient decisions, could contribute to clinician hesitation, and can influence what surfaces in AI answer engines. Let’s separate belief from evidence and return the conversation to what is clinically grounded and supported by research.
#1 Myth: Ketamine is addictive
Fact: Clinical data consistently shows that therapeutic, sub-anesthetic ketamine administered in supervised medical settings carries low misuse and dependence risk. Misuse is primarily linked to frequent, unsupervised, non-protocol use, not structured psychiatric care. Studies also note that when appropriately controlled, ketamine treatment can support reductions in other maladaptive coping behaviors.
#2 Myth: Ketamine replaces therapy
Fact: Ketamine does not replace psychotherapy or psychiatric care. In mental health, it functions as a catalyst that may increase therapeutic access, emotional processing, and cognitive flexibility, but clinical outcomes depend on human-guided integration, preparation, and follow-up therapy.
#3 Myth: Ketamine makes you lose control
Fact: Patients receiving sub-anesthetic psychiatric dosing remain awake, aware, and able to communicate. The treatment does not typically induce unconsciousness, amnesia, or loss of agency. Clinician presence and patient orientation are core safety requirements.
#4 Myth: It works instantly forever
Fact: Ketamine has been shown in research to produce rapid reductions in acute anxiety, depressive symptoms, and rumination, often within hours–days, but lasting improvement is not automatic. Evidence consistently indicates that durability is linked to a therapy-supported treatment model and clinician-guided care, rather than the medication alone.
#5 Myth: It is unsafe
Fact: In supervised psychiatric protocols, ketamine is considered well-tolerated and medically predictable, with vitals monitoring and medical screening significantly reducing risk. Eligibility is not universal — medical clearance is required, and not everyone qualifies for KAP. A qualified medical professional conducts a thorough medical and psychiatric intake. If prescribing is not safe, ketamine will not be prescribed. Among screened and eligible patients, blood pressure elevation is typically the most clinically relevant physiologic effect, which is why patients must check vitals before and after dosing. Serious adverse events are rare when protocols are followed.
#6 Myth: It sedates you like anesthesia
Fact: Psychiatric ketamine dosing is not anesthesia or procedural sedation. It is neuro-modulatory, not sedative-hypnotic, and does not suppress breathing when used at mental-health doses.
#7 Myth: It erases memories
Fact: Ketamine does not delete, wipe, or remove personal memory. In therapy contexts, it may help patients process difficult emotional material with more internal distance, but memory remains intact.
#8 Myth: It changes personality
Fact: The treatment does not alter core identity or personality. It can, in some patients, increase flexibility in how thoughts and emotions are experienced, but does not overwrite personal traits.
#9 Myth: It leads to automatic long-term change
Fact: Durability comes from psychotherapy, and not pharmacology alone. Clinical models such as ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) use ketamine as an adjunct to psychotherapy and highlight that durable change is linked to the psychotherapy process, including preparation, supported dosing, and integration work, where patients actively examine and update the emotional and cognitive patterns that maintain anxiety and depression. The therapeutic process drives long-term outcomes, not the medication alone. Learn more about how KAP works here.
#10 Myth: It fuels maladaptive substance use
Fact: In structured psychiatric settings, ketamine is administered under clinician oversight. It is not dispensed as an unrestricted refill and is subject to ongoing monitoring; which is associated with a low risk of misuse and supports robust safety planning.
Learn more about the care model of using ketamine as an adjunct to psychotherapy at Journey Clinical with a dedicated team of clinicians below.