UK youth face growing ketamine addiction amid mental health crisis

Mental health problems among children and adolescents are becoming an increasingly significant issue. Mental health professionals are sounding the alarm, largely due to the youth attempting to self-medicate with easily accessible psychoactive substances.

Depression, neurodiversity, personality disorders, anxiety—mental health problems are more common among children, adolescents, and adults than many people realize. A major problem is the long wait times for specialists and their limited numbers, especially in the field of mental health for minors. The wait for psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists stretches out for many months, even years. It's no wonder that people seeking help try to treat themselves. However, the results can be disastrous.

Mental health experts are sounding the alarm. More and more children and teenagers in the United Kingdom are turning to ketamine, a psychoactive substance classified as a dissociative psychedelic. This substance is used for anesthesia before operations and as a painkiller in cancer treatment. Increasingly, researchers are also pointing to its psychoactive effects in treating anxiety. For decades, ketamine has also been used as a recreational drug. The effects of the chemical substance are described as a feeling of exploring other worlds, experiencing an out-of-body sensation, a journey inward, a blurring of time, a sense of flying and floating, a feeling of contact with God, euphoria, mystical experiences; excessive salivation and nausea.

British psychiatrists warn that the percentage of youth using ketamine without medical supervision is rising in the country. Owen Bowden-Jones, a psychiatrist and founder of the Club Drug Clinic, told "The Guardian" in an interview that the situation is serious: "Many young people wouldn’t dream of using heroin, it’s very clear in their minds that’s a highly dangerous, highly addictive drug to start on, and yet they’re coming to me using two to three grams of ketamine a day." The National Health Service reports that the number of people seeking help to combat ketamine addiction has doubled between 2019 and 2023.

Owen Bowden-Jones adds that young people suffering from various traumas use ketamine because it can induce "brilliant emotional anaesthetic." Young drug addicts turn to the chemical substance because of the lack of access to good therapy. Uncontrolled use of ketamine can lead to severe addictions. Bowden-Jones warns that currently, the United Kingdom lacks psychiatrists specializing in treating addiction to this trendy drug, resulting in long wait times and prolonged treatment.