Ketamine treatment offers hope to teenagers with severe depression ; Teen shares story of anxiety , eating disorder , PTSD

abc7chicago.com · Feb 23, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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Ketamine treatment offers some hope for teenagers struggling with severe depression.Brenna, 18, started ketamine five years ago after experiencing mental health difficulties.She suffered from anorexia, depression and suicidal thoughts, which were exacerbated by the pandemic."I had tried, like the usual, SSRI antidepressants, and I had been in like, in residential treatment, inpatient treatment, for like, months and months and months, and things were just kind of getting worse," she said.Her father said he was watching his daughter suffer and waste away. So, he looked into unconventional treatments and heard about ketamine for use in patients where nothing else worked."If you want to save your kid, if you, you know, want your kid to survive, you try whatever you can," Lee said.Ketamine is used regularly as a pain killer and anesthetic, but it's now being explored in treatment-resistant depression, and under strict circumstances, doctors do prescribe it to teens off-label."We began to use very low-dose ketamine with her, which gave her respite, gave her a time out from how she was thinking, suffering, holding on, being in control, being miserable. And that worked. And she just grew and grew," Dr. Phil Wolfson, psychiatrist and CEO of the Ketamine Research Foundation said.Brenna had low dose ketamine-assisted therapy sessions once a month to start and her dad says her eating disorder started showing improvement after the first session."We went to the restaurant that was next door to the clinic, and Brenna ate. She ate a meal, something that she hadn't done in a very, very long time it was like a miracle," her father said.However, doctors warn there are limited studies in teens and no data on what ketamine may do to the brain long term."We need more data in adults, and we certainly need more data in teens," Emergency Medicine Physician Dr. Stephanie Widmer said. "Ketamine can cause profound sedation; it can cause dissociation. It can certainly alter your vital signs. It is not something that should ever be done without an experienced professional or not in a monitored setting."Brenna continued to improve. Now in college, she returns for maintenance ketamine sessions every six months."Since I've started ketamine, I've gained like 20 pounds. All of my symptoms are very well controlled now. I no longer qualify for having anorexia or PTSD or anxiety or depression," she said."I'm just so proud of her and love her so much," her father said.If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises please call or text the new three digit code at 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org or dial the current toll free number 800-273-8255 [TALK].Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.