Everything The ‘Mormon Wives’ Have Said About Ketamine Therapy

It seems like the biggest “secret” the Mormon Wives are hiding is that they’ve found a way to make being Mormon, like, super fun?? While angry elf Zac Affleck is freaking out that MomTok isn’t going to make the LDS elders proud, the “sinners” like Jessi, Taylor, and Demi are busy showing the world that the new generation is here to push the boundaries of the Mormon lifestyle. Still, can’t say I didn’t immediately pause and rewind when I heard the word “ketamine” coming out of Demi’s mouth in season 1.

Here’s how ketamine works and how it has helped a significant amount of the cast of SLOMW.

How does ketamine therapy work, and what are the proposed benefits?

Demi shared her experience with ketamine therapy, a modern medical treatment administered by a doctor to help a patient work through previous trauma, in season 1 of SLOMW.

Low doses of ketamine, a “dissociative anesthetic medication,” are administered to help treat numerous mental health conditions and disorders related to depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, as described by the Pacific Neuroscience Institute.

Using this “sub-anesthetic” (which is also sometimes a tool in the operating room) in this way is currently not FDA-approved. The ketamine injection is said by medical experts to induce a short-term “psychedelic state of altered consciousness” in the brain that typically fades into an “afterglow” as the treatment wears off.

Long term, this experience is supposed to potentially invite a positive change in an individual’s mindset and behavior. In case it isn’t obvious, I’m not a doctor, so anyone interested in seeking (literally any) medical treatment would have talk to one ASAP to know how it would impact their health. A ketamine nasal spray called esketamine was approved by the FDA in 2019.

Do you talk during ketamine therapy?

Yes, therapists can use ketamine sessions as a time to discuss relevant topics to their patients’ mental health since the “mind will be more open and less guarded, which is one of the most significant benefits of ketamine treatment.” But what happens in individual sessions can vary depending on the doctor’s instructions, according to The Cedars-Sinai Mental Health Center.

During Jen and Zac’s ketamine therapy appointment in season 2 of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, the couple was not shown speaking to a mental health professional while getting the infusion, as only a small clip of their two to three-hour session was shown on camera. Jen and Zac confirmed to Women’s Health Magazine that an ER doctor, nurse practitioner, and talk therapist who worked with them for an hour during and after the session were a part of their process (off camera).

Did ketamine therapy help Jen and Zac?

Jen said that ketamine therapy was a key part in saving their marriage, as she told Women’s Health. Jen was game to try using ketamine therapy to “reset [her] neural pathways [and] help with trauma” after Zac suggested it after learning about the option in medical school, because they had already tried “so much therapy.”

After doing seven sessions, and all of the work between sessions, like integration work and intention setting, Jen said, “I don’t know where our relationship would be without it.” Zac called the process “the hardest form of therapy” because “it makes you face your true feelings, your true emotions, your insecurities, your weaknesses.”

How did ketamine therapy help Demi from Secret Lives of Mormon Wives?

Demi Engemann

Demi said ketamine therapy has been “the biggest tool that I’ve used to strengthen my relationship. [It’s] next-level” on a September 11, 2024, episode of The Viall Files podcast. She and Bret have used the medically induced healing method, where the substance is “administered by a doctor through an IV,” to keep her marriage from “struggling” or getting “a little bit dull.” Demi wants to make it clear she and the former college QB are not blindly “popping Special K,” a nickname that refers to the recreational use of the popularly used club drug.

What did Demi say about ketamine on the episode of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives?

Demi first talked about her “ketamine session” with co-star Whitney Leavitt on season 1 episode four of Secret Lives (“The Book of Truth”). Demi described the session as a “therapy for physical trauma or emotional trauma,” which causes patients to “[feel] things very deeply” and share “truths about yourself you wouldn’t otherwise admit.” Because of this truth-telling effect, Demi believes Whitney shared that beyond cringe video dancing next to her infant with RSV for “clout” and “likes,” something they discussed in their joint session. Demi even claimed she possessed a video of Whitney stating those words as she was “coming out of ” the treatment, which Whitney has responded to as “very hurtful.”

Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Cast On If Mormons Are Allowed To Use Ketamine

Zac said he believes that ketamine use falls in “the gray area” because “there’s nothing in the Mormon guidelines that say you can’t do ketamine,” but it can be “a party drug, and it can be abused.”