Why Jamie Lynn Sigler Turned to Ketamine Therapy — And What She Says Now

From Matthew Perry to Chrissy Teigen, celebrity testimonials are propelling ketamine infusions into the mental health mainstream, fueling a surge of interest—and scrutiny. Once a niche anesthetic, ketamine’s dissociative, hallucinogenic effects and power to sedate, dull pain, and disrupt memory are now at the center of a high-stakes wellness debate.

Ketamine has been an operating-room workhorse and a club drug for decades. Lately, it is also turning into a buzzy mental health treatment with clinics everywhere and celebrities talking about their sessions like they just discovered a new spa day. There is promise here, and there are very real risks. Here is a clear look at what it is, what the medical folks actually say, and how the famous people using it describe the experience.

Quick refresher: what ketamine actually is

In medical terms, ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic. Translation: it can separate your perception from your surroundings while providing pain relief and sedation, and it can affect memory. The U.S. DEA recognizes it as a legitimate, approved anesthetic used in humans and animals. It is also been used recreationally for a long time, which is part of why this conversation gets messy fast.

There is also a related, FDA-approved nasal spray version called esketamine, sold as Spravato, that is specifically indicated for treatment-resistant depression. That is an important distinction: Spravato is not just any ketamine you can buy or compound; it is a particular drug, in a specific form, with its own approval and rules.

The safety caveats (because, yes, there are a lot)

In October 2023, the FDA warned against using ketamine in non-injectable forms to treat psychiatric disorders outside of the approved path. The headline risks they flagged include heavy sedation, dissociation, destabilizing psychiatric effects (including making certain conditions worse), abuse and misuse, spikes in blood pressure, and respiratory depression.

And if you are wondering how solid the science is on all the different ways clinics deliver this stuff, you are not alone. In November 2023, anesthesiologist Dr. Eric Schwenk told the Associated Press that the research on nasal and oral ketamine (outside FDA-approved esketamine) is thin. In other words: there is not a lot of high-quality data guiding safe, standardized use for those routes.

Does it help? The measured medical view

A study in the Journal of Clinical Psychology looked at people receiving IV ketamine at three private clinics and found significant improvements in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. That is encouraging, but it is not the final word. Yale psychiatry professor Dr. Gerard Sanacora summed up the nuanced stance in December 2023:

"This can be an important treatment to add to how we fight severe mood disorders, but we need to use it responsibly and carefully."

Sanacora also pointed out that we still do not have enough data on adverse effects, and that ketamine carries unique risks for individuals and, potentially, society at large.

On the practical side, Dr. Peter Grinspoon of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School wrote in February 2024 that ketamine is not a first-line depression treatment. It is something to consider only after standard options, and ideally under close medical supervision. He noted it is often easier to identify who should not get ketamine than who should, but it can offer real relief and hope for people who have not responded to anything else.

How celebrities say it felt (and what actually happened)

• Chrissy Teigen (December 2023, Instagram): Spent her 38th birthday doing ketamine therapy and says she saw space, time, and her late son Jack. She and John Legend lost Jack at 20 weeks in September 2020. She described the session as intensely emotional, then went home to her kids, ate hot pot, and ended the night with friends.
• Matthew Perry (2022 memoir; death in October 2023; arrests in August 2024): Perry wrote that ketamine sessions felt like a massive exhale with music, a blindfold, and an IV, but also like he was dying during the hour. He later decided the rough after-effects outweighed the initial euphoria and concluded it was not for him. He died in October 2023 from the acute effects of ketamine at age 54. In August 2024, five people were arrested in connection with his death on charges including conspiracy to distribute ketamine, distribution resulting in death, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and altering or falsifying records tied to a federal investigation.
• Sharon Osbourne (September 2021, Daily Mail): After she was fired from The Talk in March 2021 and accused of racist, homophobic, and bullying behavior, Osbourne said ketamine treatments helped her work through the depression and anxiety that followed. She described three months of therapy, ketamine included, and said it helped her release a lot of pain and embarrassment.
• Halsey (August 2024, She MD podcast): Used ketamine to process PTSD and postpartum depression. In her first session, she revisited old trauma, felt like her brain told her she had moved past some of it, and then started working through newer issues. She said she did not experience any negative identity shift and felt genuinely happy afterward.
• Elon Musk (March 2024, Don Lemon interview ): Said he sometimes gets into a negative brain state not tied to external events and that ketamine helps shift him out of it. He said he has a prescription from a real doctor and uses a small dose roughly every other week.
• Lamar Odom (2021, Good Morning America): After a near-fatal overdose in 2015 that included 12 seizures and six strokes, Odom said ketamine entered his life at the right time and helped his recovery. He described feeling amazing, sober, and happy.
• Tyler Baltierra (2023, Yahoo Life): The Teen Mom OG alum has been transparent about therapy in general and showed cameras a ketamine session with psychotherapist Mike Dow. He explained the difference between a slower, lighter IV drip and a quick intramuscular injection that hits hard. He wanted a deeper dive to reach the core of his trauma and described the experience as heavy, dreamlike, and visual, saying ketamine unlocked rapid access to a meditative state.
• Molly O'Connell (January 2025, The Viall Files): The Southern Charm star started ketamine infusions for depression and anxiety when she was in a very dark place. She said the treatment made the world feel colorful again and nudged her brain toward enjoying life and doing things that matter.
• Ciara Miller (February 2026, The Squeeze): The Summer House personality completed four sessions for social anxiety. She called it a fast-moving IV journey, noted she gets motion-sick easily, and said the dissociative effect seems to help. Her main tip: you have to surrender control for it to work.
• Jamie Lynn Sigler (May 2026, MeSsy podcast): The Sopranos alum shared a helpful mental model from her therapist: during ketamine, new neural pathways can start to form. She pictured her usual thought patterns as a carved waterfall path, and ketamine helped etch a few new grooves. Now, when old habits kick in, she tries to redirect the flow down the new route. Over time, that becomes the default.

The bottom line, minus the hype

Ketamine is not a miracle cure or a toy. It is a powerful anesthetic with dissociative effects, and there is an FDA-approved nasal spray version (esketamine/Spravato) for very specific depression cases. Research on IV ketamine is promising for certain patients, but the evidence for some other routes is still thin, and the FDA has been loud about safety concerns outside approved use.

Plenty of people report life-changing relief. Some have bad reactions. Matthew Perry’s story is the most sobering reminder that the stakes are high. If you are curious, this is one of those treatments where doing it by the book, with a real clinician who knows your medical history and monitors you properly, is not optional. It is the point.