AOC's campaign blew up nearly $19K on psychiatrist specializing in ketamine therapy

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shelled out nearly $19,000 in campaign funds last year for services tied to a Boston-based psychiatrist known for controversial mental health treatments.

Federal Election Commission filings show the progressive lawmaker paid a total of $18,725 to Dr Brian Boyle, a Harvard-trained specialist who serves as chief psychiatric officer at Stella, a network of clinics offering what it calls “novel” therapies that have found favor among elite circles in Hollywood and finance, the New York Post reported.

A specialist in controversial therapies

According to the filings, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign paid Boyle $11,550 in March 2025, followed by $2,800 in May and $4,375 in October. The expenses were categorized as “leadership training and consulting.” What exactly those sessions involved and who took part remains unclear.

Boyle, who describes himself as an “interventional psychiatrist,” focuses on unconventional treatments aimed at patients dealing with treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, and anxiety.

The doctor has built a reputation as a “leading authority” on ketamine (a powerful anesthetic sometimes referred to as a horse tranquilizer), which drew headlines after being administered to Matthew Perry in the month leading up to his death.

Speaking on a podcast last year, Boyle explained what drew him into the field. “I just saw the incredible power of what these treatments could do,” he said. “It’s a ton of fun helping patients get better.”

His clinics also offer treatments like stellate ganglion block, which involves injecting an anesthetic into a cluster of nerves in the neck to calm the body’s fight-or-flight response. The treatment has been embraced by wealthy clients, including Bob Parsons, who has publicly praised it while discussing his struggles with PTSD following the Vietnam War.

“Celebrities tend to be more inclined to be on the hunt for highly effective solutions across beauty, health, mental health, nutrition, and so on,” Boyle said in an interview last year.

AOC’s history with psychedelics policy and mental health

Ocasio-Cortez has long shown openness to alternative approaches to mental health treatment.

Back in 2018, she campaigned on ending the federal prohibition of marijuana. She later pushed multiple legislative efforts aimed at expanding research into psychedelics like psilocybin and ecstasy, calling early findings “promising.”

“It’s well past time we take drug use out of criminal consideration and into medical consideration,” she wrote at the time.

Her initial attempts in 2019 and again in 2021 failed (including resistance from fellow Democrats), but she ultimately found success in 2023 when a similar measure she co-sponsored was signed into law.

The congresswoman has also spoken openly about her own mental health struggles. Following the January 6 Capitol riot, she revealed she had begun therapy after what she described as a traumatic experience.

“Oh yeah, I’m doing therapy,” she said during a 2021 appearance on Latino USA, recalling the day she hid in a bathroom while fearing for her life as police banged on the door. She called it “an extraordinarily traumatizing event.”

“I’ve had to take a beat,” she added.

Ocasio-Cortez, now 36, has previously detailed the toll of politics even earlier in her career. After her upset 2018 victory over longtime incumbent Joe Crowley, she said the stress took a personal toll.

“I went from doing yoga and making wild rice and salmon dinners to eating fast food for dinner and falling asleep in my jeans and makeup,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “I neglected myself.”