‘Beyond the evidence’: media reports overhype ketamine’s use as a depression treatment, review finds

Researchers found media reporting of the use of ketamine as a treatment for psychiatric disorders has been inaccurate in 37% of articles studied over fiver years. Photograph: Chinnapong/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Many media stories about ketamine as a treatment for psychiatric disorders such as depression “go well beyond the evidence base” by exaggerating the efficacy, safety and longevity of the drug or by overstating the risks, an analysis has found.

Researchers examined 119 articles about ketamine and mental illness published by major print media in Australia, the US and UK over a five-year period. They found articles peaked in 2019, when the US Food and Drug Administration approved a ketamine-derived nasal spray known as esketamine for treatment-resistant depression.