You have been working up to it for weeks. Your grown son is back living at home, and the second antidepressant has done no more than the first. You read something about ketamine therapy for depression. Now you are sitting across the kitchen table, trying to decide how to bring it up without watching him shut down.

Parents in that position often brace for rejection. A survey we commissioned suggests the reaction you fear most is not the most common one.

What we asked

In June 2026 we put questions to 443 Midwest adults aged 18 to 64. One item simply asked for their gut reaction when first told about ketamine therapy aimed at depression or PTSD. The results, now final, broke down this way:

Willing, with caution: 34 percent
Doubtful: 21 percent
Hopeful or curious about it: 18 percent
Unaware of it until then: 18 percent
Opposed: 9 percent

Together, counted person by person, the cautious and the hopeful make 51 percent, a slim majority whose first instinct leaned toward openness. Firm opposition, by contrast, sat in single digits.

The story inside those numbers

The largest single group was not the enthusiasts and not the opponents. It was people who were willing but wary. That is a useful thing for a parent to carry into a conversation, because it changes what you are trying to do.

If you expect opposition, you prepare arguments. If you expect caution, you prepare information, patience, and room for questions. Caution is not a door closing. It is a person asking to be treated as someone who can weigh risks.

We should be clear about the limits. This is a general sample of adults, not a sample of young adults with depression or of the children of the parents reading this. We cannot tell you how your own son or daughter will react. What we can say is that, across a broad group of ordinary people, wariness was far more common than hostility.

The skeptics deserve a real answer

About one respondent in five described themselves as skeptical. Skepticism about ketamine is reasonable. People know it as an anesthetic and, sometimes, as a drug that gets misused.

The honest answer to skepticism is to separate things that often get lumped together:

Esketamine (Spravato) comes as a nasal spray and holds FDA approval in two adult situations, depression that resists treatment and major depression with acute suicidal thinking or behavior, and it is used only at a certified treatment center, with staff watching for two hours or more.
IV ketamine for depression is off-label, since the drug is approved only as an anesthetic; specialty clinics typically offer it.
At-home ketamine, often prescribed by telehealth companies, is also off-label and taken without in-person monitoring. The FDA has warned about its risks.

A skeptical adult child may be relieved to learn that the approved version happens in a medical setting with staff present. Or they may still say no. Both outcomes are theirs to reach. A clear overview of Spravato can help if they want to read more.

The people who had never heard of it

Nearly one in five respondents had no reaction to give, because the phrase was entirely new to them. Awareness of the specific approved product was even thinner: when we asked about Spravato by name, 73 percent had never heard of it.

For parents, that means the first conversation may be less about persuasion and more about simple introduction. "Did you know there is an approved option for depression that regular medication has not fixed?" is a gentler opening than "I think you should try ketamine."

Who the parents were

We also asked respondents to describe themselves. Twenty-nine percent (129 people) had a parent or family tie to a veteran or first responder; 55 percent of them were open to ketamine therapy. That is a specific group, not all parents, but it hints at how many people in this sample view mental health through the lens of someone they love.

And the struggle was widespread. Seventy-two percent had seen standard medication fail against depression, anxiety, or PTSD in themselves, in someone close, or both; for 22 percent it was someone close rather than themselves, and for 13 percent both. If you are the parent watching from across the table, you are not an outlier.

Where your adult child is likely to want to go

Your role has a ceiling. The person most likely to move your son or daughter is not you. Asked whose word would tip them into this kind of treatment, respondents chose their own doctor in 74 percent of cases and a close friend or relative in 18 percent.

That is not a reason to stay silent. It is a reason to aim your effort well. The most valuable thing a parent can do is often to help an adult child get to a doctor and ask the question, rather than trying to be the final word.

Practical ways to use this

Lead with the problem, not the product. "The medicine does not seem to be working. Can we talk about what else is out there?"
Offer information, not a verdict. Share something to read. Let them come back with questions.
Suggest a doctor visit as the next step. Offer to help find an appointment, drive, or sit in the waiting room.
Respect the answer. Your child is an adult. Their consent, their privacy, and their pace matter, and treatment decisions belong to them and their clinician.
Check coverage together, if invited. Adult children under 26 can often stay on a parent's health plan, and knowing what that plan covers can remove one obstacle.

Nothing here is medical advice. Whether esketamine or any other treatment suits your child should be judged by a clinician who knows their history.

If your son or daughter has talked about wanting to die, or you are worried they might act on those thoughts, do not wait for the right moment to talk about treatment. The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline takes worried parents' calls and texts at 988, day and night, and will help you work out what to do next; veterans can press 1.

Methodology

The survey sat on Pollfish's consumer panel until a June 23, 2026 cutoff. All 443 people who finished it were between 18 and 64 and lived in Ohio, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Oklahoma, or Minnesota. We report whole-sample results plus the one parent-and-family breakdown named above. Every number reflects Pollfish's validated final responses. The study was the publisher's commission, at the publisher's expense.

First reactions to ketamine therapy: what parents can learn