Rick Springfield stopped ketamine therapy and started micro-dosing LSD

CNN
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Musical artist and actor Rick Springfield has been open about his depression. Now he’s being equally forthcoming about how he’s dealing with it.

The star, who rose to fame in the 1980s, shared that he tried ketamine therapy in an attempt to treat his depression.

“I wanted to see if it’d open a few things in my brain,” Springfield told People.

“It was a creative experiment and an experiment on depression. I did it for as long as suggested, and I wasn’t a big fan,” Springfield said. “It made me feel heavy and machinelike. It didn’t change much in me — although I have been writing a lot, so you never know what kind of effect it has later on. It’s not a black-and-white kind of thing.”

There has been increasing public interest in ketamine, a drug originally developed in the 1960s as an anesthetic, since the 2023 death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry was determined to be due in part to “the acute effects of ketamine,” according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office.

Springfield told the publication that he has instead turned to “micro-dosing” to find relief.

“I did acid, and that was actually a little better,” he said. “I hadn’t done that since I was in my 20s, but it was a great high. I don’t mean to push drugs on anyone, but I’m not averse to anything that helps me be happier and a better person. I could use some help in that area. I’m always searching.”

Cutting down on alcohol has also helped, he said.

With hits like “Jessie’s Girl” and a starring role as Dr. Noah Drake on the soap opera “General Hospital,” Springfield wrote about his struggle with depression in his 2010 memoir, “Late, Late at Night.”

He’s talked about not wanting to let it define him.

“I want to prove that I’m not the jerk the depression tells me I am and then let people know that it’s OK, that you can still have a successful life and deal with it,” he said at the time. “It doesn’t have to take you down.”