Ketamine Addiction Therapy
From Dissociation to Disconnection: Understanding Ketamine Misuse
Ketamine is a powerful dissociative anaesthetic increasingly used recreationally, therapeutically and experimentally. While its clinical use in medicine and emerging role in treating resistant depression have gained attention, ketamine misuse and addiction remain under-recognised. Many people using ketamine frequently, whether at parties, alone, or for emotional escape and do not see themselves as addicted. Yet the psychological and functional consequences can be severe.
At Addiction Therapist London I work with individuals who are questioning or struggling with their relationship to ketamine. If you're using ketamine to dissociate from inner pain, cope with life’s demands or to numb trauma; therapy offers a private, specialist space to address the emotional and psychological roots of your use.
What Is Ketamine Addiction?
Ketamine addiction is primarily psychological, but no less disruptive. While it may not cause intense physical withdrawal like opioids, codeine addiction or alcohol dependency, repeated use alters dopamine regulation and cognitive-emotional processing, leading to patterns of compulsion and dependency. Many clients describe feeling disconnected from themselves, others or reality when not using leading them to chase the drug’s dissociative effects again and again.
You may be experiencing ketamine drug addiction if:
- You feel unable to stop or moderate your use, despite good intentions
- You're using more frequently or in higher doses to achieve the same effect (tolerance)
- Life feels emotionally flat or meaningless without ketamine
- You struggle with memory, bladder issues or foggy thinking
- You feel dissociated or low when not using
- You're withdrawing from relationships or responsibilities
- You feel shame, secrecy or confusion about your drug use
Ketamine may be psychologically addictive rather than physically addictive, but its ability to numb pain and induce detachment makes it highly appealing and potentially habit-forming for those dealing with emotional trauma, depression, anxiety or burnout.
How Addictive Is Ketamine?
Ketamine is classified as a Class B drug in the UK and has been shown to be psychologically addictive, especially when used frequently or outside medical supervision. While some people develop dependence over months or years, others can become addicted after only a short period of use. Its rapid onset, euphoric dissociation and escapist quality contribute to its addictive potential.
Search phrases like “how addictive is ketamine,” “can you be addicted to ketamine,” and “is ketamine addictive when used for depression” reflect public concern and for good reason. Clinical reports and user experiences increasingly confirm that both recreational and therapeutic ketamine use can lead to misuse, especially without correct psychological support.
Who Is This Therapy For?
I work with individuals who:
- Use ketamine recreationally and find it hard to stop
- Are using ketamine in private or isolated contexts to manage difficult feelings
- Are experiencing memory problems, bladder symptoms or emotional blunting
- Are professionals, creatives, or students using ketamine to manage pressure, stress or emotional pain
- Have used ketamine in psychedelic therapy but now feel dependent or destabilised
- Many clients I work with also have experience of/or are currently seeking help for other forms of substance abuse or drug addiction, including ketamine addiction treatment, mephedrone addiction, alcohol addiction, zopiclone addiction, cannabis addiction, prescription drug addiction, Adderall addiction, heroin addiction, Spice addiction, ecstasy addiction, amphetamine addiction, crack cocaine addiction, Ritalin addiction, GBL addiction, GHB addiction, cocaine addiction treatment, benzodiazepine addiction, tramadol addiction, fentanyl addiction, Xanax addiction, opioid addiction, meth addiction, methadone addiction, Benzo Fury addiction, stimulant addiction, morphine addiction, clonazepam addiction, oxycodone addiction, buprenorphine addiction, diazepam addiction, and zolpidem addiction.
Many of my clients do not fit the stereotype of a drug addict. They are highly functioning individuals, often working in demanding careers or navigating complex personal histories, who have turned to ketamine as a form of psychological escape.
My Therapeutic Approach
Ketamine misuse often stems from a deeper emotional story — one that needs to be met with care, precision and discretion. My approach includes:
- Psychodynamic therapy to explore the unconscious drivers of drug use, including trauma, abandonment or attachment wounds
- CBT-informed relapse prevention, helping to identify triggers and develop sustainable alternative coping mechanisms
- Motivational Interviewing (MI) to explore ambivalence and gently build internal motivation for change
- Psychoeducation around the effects of ketamine on the brain, bladder and emotional regulation
- Art Psychotherapy, where verbal insight is blocked or difficult, allowing access to feelings through creative expression
- Referral pathways to psychiatrists, urologists or detox specialists where appropriate
Therapy is entirely tailored to your needs whether you’re at the start of contemplating change, deep in crisis or seeking to stay in long-term recovery. My role is to meet you where you are, offering steady, intelligent and non-judgemental support.
Medical Detox Referral
While many clients are able to engage in psychological addiction treatment without inpatient care, there are circumstances where a medical detox is the safest starting point. Heavy or prolonged ketamine abuse can be physically taxing, particularly when combined with other substances such as cocaine addiction or opioids. In these cases, I can refer you to trusted private detox clinics or work collaboratively with addiction psychiatrists to ensure your physical and emotional safety before beginning intensive therapy. This ensures you receive the right level of support for both your immediate health and your long-term recovery.
The Seduction and Cost of Dissociation
Ketamine’s dissociative properties make it uniquely compelling for those seeking to escape emotional pain. It creates a temporary sense of distance from the self, the past, the world and can feel like a reprieve from suffering. But this comes at a price.
Clients often describe:
- Feeling emotionally numb or “cut off” when sober
- Losing the ability to feel joy, sadness or intimacy
- Drifting through life in a disconnected haze
- Experiencing flattened motivation, memory gaps or decision fatigue
- Feeling shame, guilt or confusion about their relationship with ketamine
In my clinical experience, ketamine misuse often reflects a deeper yearning not for escape itself, but for relief from unspoken pain or emotional overwhelm. Many clients describe feeling suspended between numbness and need, uncertain of how they arrived here. Therapy offers a bridge back to emotional clarity, not by taking away what ketamine gave, but by helping you reconnect with what it was covering up.
Understanding why ketamine is so addictive, its role in emotional avoidance, identity escape, and neurochemical manipulation is key to recovery. Therapy offers space to connect the dots between your internal world and external behaviours, leading to insight and change.
Ketamine Use in the UK: A Growing Concern
- Ketamine use has more than doubled in the UK among young adults in the last five years, according to the Home Office
- Regular use is associated with serious bladder complications, known as ketamine bladder syndrome or “K-bladder,” which can cause pain, incontinence or long-term damage
- Long-term users report difficulties with memory, focus and emotional regulation, often unnoticed until daily functioning is impaired
Despite its association with club culture or party scenes, many users are using ketamine alone at home, during work breaks or to “come down” from high-pressure days. The hidden nature of ketamine use means many people delay seeking help.
High-Discretion Therapy in Harley Street Medical Quarter
As a senior addiction therapist with more than a decade of experience, I work with clients in person at my consulting rooms in London’s Harley Street Medical Quarter, St Pauls in the City of London, as well as remotely for those in the UK or internationally. Privacy, discretion and high-level clinical care are at the heart of my service.
Clients who need both compassion and clear therapeutic direction. I offer a space where you can speak freely, understand yourself deeply and reclaim your emotional agency.
Can You Get Addicted to Ketamine Used for Depression?
This is an increasingly important question. While low-dose ketamine or esketamine is used in some private psychiatric clinics for treatment-resistant depression, this must be delivered under careful medical and psychological supervision.
When used without therapeutic integration, ketamine may:
- Reinforce dissociation rather than promote connection
- Create psychological dependency on the experience of relief
- Lead to self-administration or sourcing outside medical settings
- Confuse the line between therapeutic use and addiction
If you’ve received ketamine therapy for depression and now find yourself feeling reliant, detached or unable to stop, therapy can help differentiate between healing and harm and restore a grounded path forward.
Is Ketamine Physically or Psychologically Addictive?
Most research and clinical insight suggest that ketamine is primarily psychologically addictive, although it can create some physical dependence with prolonged heavy use. The habit-forming nature of ketamine comes from its ability to quickly shift mood, numb distress and evoke profound changes in perception, which can be difficult to give up once they become familiar coping tools.
This psychological addiction is no less real and often more insidious than physical dependence. Emotional cravings, rituals around use and dissociation from life are core features of ketamine misuse.
What Does Ketamine Addiction Recovery Look Like?
Recovery is not just about abstinence. It’s about:
- Reconnecting with your emotional life
- Building resilience to discomfort
- Re-establishing purpose and relationships
- Healing the underlying wounds that ketamine once numbed
- Rediscovering how to feel fully without checking out
Recovery can be slow and non-linear. Therapy can support this process with consistency and care.
Take the First Step Toward Recovery
If your relationship with ketamine has become confusing, distressing or hard to manage; you don’t have to face it alone. Whether you’re concerned about recreational use, therapeutic overuse or hidden dependency, I offer an intelligent and compassionate space to begin the conversation.
To arrange a confidential consultation, please get in touch directly or by referral. Sessions are available in Harley Street Medical Quarter, St Pauls in the City of London or online.
Book a complimentary consultation or a private therapy session.