How an IV session works
After a check-in and baseline vital signs, a small IV line is placed in your arm. A low, sub-anesthetic dose is infused slowly with a pump so staff can adjust or stop it at any time. Blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels are monitored throughout.
Most people feel detached or dreamlike during the infusion. These effects typically fade within an hour or two after it ends. You will need someone to drive you home.
What the evidence shows
Randomized trials have found rapid, short-term improvement in depressive symptoms for many people with treatment-resistant depression, sometimes within hours to days. Benefits often fade without repeat or maintenance sessions, and long-term data are still limited. Evidence for anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and chronic pain is earlier-stage and more mixed.
Editorial note: we describe research findings in general terms. Individual results vary and no clinic can promise an outcome.
Cost and insurance
Because the use is off-label, most insurance plans do not cover IV ketamine for psychiatric conditions. Clinics set their own prices; an initial series commonly totals a few thousand dollars. Ask for a written quote that includes consultation and monitoring fees.
Safety
Ketamine can cause dissociation, sedation, raised blood pressure, nausea, and dizziness, and it can be misused. A licensed prescriber must evaluate your full medical and psychiatric history first, and you should never drive until the next day.
Common questions
Is IV ketamine better than the nasal spray?
They have not been compared head-to-head in large trials. IV allows precise dose adjustment; esketamine nasal spray is the only FDA-approved option for depression and is more often covered by insurance.
Will I be unconscious?
No. Psychiatric infusions use doses well below anesthetic levels. You remain awake, though you may feel detached.
This guide is educational and not medical advice. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.