# Ketamine Rehab in Spain | Sierra Recovery, Malaga > Ketamine addiction treatment in Spain, including ketamine bladder. A licensed residential centre near Malaga, GBP 9,900 for a 28-day programme. [Home](/) / [Alcohol & drug addiction](/drug-addiction/) / Ketamine addiction Ketamine addiction # Ketamine addiction treatment in Spain A licensed 28-day residential programme in the Málaga countryside, run by an English-speaking team, for ketamine use that has become daily, solitary, or costly enough to be showing up in your body. A private room as standard, a price published in full, and no referral fees paid to anyone for sending you here. Clinically reviewed by[Nerea Encinas Sánchez](/clinical-team/)Director of the centre, MSc General Health PsychologyRegistered psychologist, COPAO AO13857 Checked for accuracy on 28 July 2026. Next review due July 2027. This page is general information about our programme and is not a substitute for advice about your own situation. Ketamine addiction is treated at Sierra Recovery as a 28-day residential programme in the Málaga countryside, published in full at £9,900. Ketamine withdrawal is psychological rather than medically dangerous, so most people do not need a hospital detox for ketamine alone, though where alcohol, benzodiazepines or GHB are used alongside it a medically supervised withdrawal is completed before you arrive, because we are a registered health centre and not a hospital. What follows is three structured group sessions a day, one-to-one therapy, a seventeen-module curriculum and urological referral where bladder damage needs it. Below is what that actually involves, who it suits, and what to do this week if the symptoms have already started. Programme 28 days residential Published price £9,900 Group work 3 sessions a day Room Private, as standard Language English throughout Registration N.I.C.A. 67331 ## What ketamine addiction actually is Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic, used legitimately in human and veterinary medicine and, at lower doses and under strict supervision, in some treatment-resistant depression clinics. Recreationally it produces detachment from the body and from the surroundings, and at higher doses a state of near-total dissociation that users call a k-hole. In the United Kingdom it was reclassified from class C to class B in 2014, and its use among younger adults has risen sharply since. It is the drug most often described as not addictive by the people who use it most, and that belief is the main reason ketamine problems reach treatment late. Ketamine does not produce the dramatic physical withdrawal of alcohol or opioids. What it produces instead is very rapid tolerance, strong psychological dependence and a pattern of compulsive redosing, and the physical harm it does arrives through the bladder and the kidneys rather than through withdrawal. Dissociation is the clue to why it takes hold. For a great many people using it heavily, ketamine is not a party drug at all. It is the most effective way they have found to be absent from their own distress, which is precisely why treating it without treating the distress does not work. Bladder damage from ketamine can become permanentPersistent pain when passing urine, blood in the urine, needing to go constantly, or severe cramping pain in the lower abdomen are signs of ketamine-induced uropathy. It is common in regular heavy use, it can progress to irreversible damage requiring surgery, and it improves substantially if use stops early. See a doctor about these symptoms now rather than after treatment. In an emergency call 999 in the UK or 112 anywhere in Europe, or NHS 111 for urgent advice that is not an emergency. ## What sustained use does The bladder is the organ that ketamine damages first and worst. Ketamine-induced uropathy causes inflammation and scarring of the bladder wall, shrinking its capacity and producing pain, urgency, incontinence and bleeding. In advanced cases the damage is irreversible and can require bladder removal. Kidney and liver damage occur alongside it. Severe abdominal cramping, known as k-cramps, is another common consequence and is frequently treated with more ketamine, which is how the cycle tightens. Cognitively, heavy use impairs memory and concentration, and long-term users often describe a persistent fog. Dissociation itself can outlast the drug, leaving people feeling detached from themselves or their surroundings when sober. Physically, the anaesthetic effect means injuries go unnoticed, and there is a real risk of choking or aspiration when someone is dissociated and unable to protect their airway. ## The signs people recognise too late What you might notice What it usually means Needing far more than you used to, quite quickly Ketamine tolerance builds unusually fast, and it is the earliest reliable signal. Using alone, at home, rather than socially The clearest sign the drug has changed job. It is no longer about the occasion. Pain when passing urine, or needing to go constantly Bladder damage. This is the one symptom on this page that needs a doctor this week rather than eventually. Severe stomach cramps that ketamine seems to relieve K-cramps. The relief is temporary and the drug causing them is the drug treating them. Redosing through the day without deciding to Compulsive use. Ketamine is unusually easy to keep taking because the effect is short and the comedown is mild. Memory gaps and a persistent fog when sober Cognitive effects of sustained use. They improve with abstinence, though slowly. Feeling detached from yourself even when not using Dissociation outlasting the drug, and usually a sign that what the ketamine was managing has not gone anywhere. If several of those land, our [four-question self-check](/self-assessment/) takes under a minute, stores nothing, and will tell you whether a fuller conversation is worth having. ## Where the treatment actually happens People ask for photographs before they ask about therapy, and they are right to. You are deciding whether you could live somewhere for a month. This is the place, not a stock library. The pool and terrace, open through the day Your own private room, included as standard The veranda, where most groups spill out to Cooked by our Michelin-trained chef, three times a day The horses live here, on the land Forty hectares of working farmland, forty five minutes from Malaga [See the full gallery](/facilities/) · [how people get here](/travelling-to-spain-for-treatment/). ## Ketamine withdrawal, and where detox fits Ketamine withdrawal is predominantly psychological. Cravings, low mood, anxiety, irritability, poor sleep and sometimes tremor and sweating are typical, and they usually settle within one to two weeks. It is not the dangerous withdrawal that alcohol or benzodiazepines produce, and most people do not need a hospital detox for ketamine alone. What people do need is distance and structure, because ketamine relapse is driven by ease. The drug is cheap, the comedown is mild, and there is very little natural friction between deciding to stop and starting again. A month in a place where that friction exists changes the odds considerably. On the licence question we are precise. Sierra Recovery is entered in the Registro Andaluz de Centros, Servicios y Establecimientos Sanitarios (the Andalusian register of health centres, services and establishments) under N.I.C.A. 67331, authorised by the Junta de Andalucía for the care unit atención sanitaria a drogodependientes (healthcare for drug dependency, authorised care unit U.71). That is a registered health centre with a supervised treatment residence. It is not a hospital and it is not a detox unit. Where your assessment shows a medically supervised withdrawal is needed, most often because of alcohol, benzodiazepines or GHB used alongside, it is completed in an appropriate medical setting before you arrive and billed separately. Qualified nursing is part of the team during your stay. Where bladder damage needs urological assessment, that is arranged through the appropriate medical route and quoted separately. You can [check our registration yourself](/regulation-and-licensing/) on the Junta's public register. ### Not sure whether ketamine warrants residential treatment? The assessment answers that honestly before you commit to anything, and it happens before you travel. If something closer to home would serve you better, a clinician will tell you so. [How admission works](/admissions/) [+44 1202 653136](tel:+441202653136) ## What a day here looks like Nobody arrives knowing how twenty eight days are actually spent. This is the real timetable, Monday to Friday. Time What happens 08:00 Breakfast, cooked by a Michelin-trained chef 09:15 Planning: the day is set out together 10:30 Process group, the harder one 12:00 Therapeutic group 13:15 Lunch 14:30 Psychoeducation, working through the curriculum 16:00 Group activity, often outdoors or with the horses 18:30 Dinner 20:00 Day closing, together Saturdays turn to holistic and body-based work. Sundays are a supervised excursion, because reconnecting with the world outside a clinic is part of the treatment rather than a break from it. 28days, the typical stay 3group sessions a day 17curriculum modules 1986PROMIS method, developed in ## What the treatment actually involves The programme runs Monday to Friday on a fixed structure, with Saturdays given to holistic and body-based work and Sundays to a supervised excursion. Rather than list therapy names, here is what each part of the week is for. Group work Psychoeducation One-to-one Holistic Equine Aftercare ### Three group sessions a day, five days a week The day opens with a process group at 10:30, a second therapeutic group runs at midday, and a psychoeducation session follows lunch. A group activity fills the late afternoon and the day closes together in the evening. That is roughly fifteen structured group contacts a week, which is the part most people underestimate before they arrive and value most afterwards. Groups are small, in English, and run by the clinical team. Hearing someone else describe your own thinking back to you does something that individual work cannot, and it is the fastest route out of the isolation that ketamine use builds. ### A seventeen-module curriculum, not a rest cure The psychoeducation strand moves through a fixed seventeen-module curriculum written by our clinical director. It is the core of what we call the Regulation Model, which is our adaptation of the PROMIS Clinics methodology to this centre rather than a model of our own invention. It covers skills training, communication styles, boundaries and decision-making, trigger recognition, self-esteem and self-concept, dual diagnosis, self-care and habits, emotions, crisis identification and management, suicide prevention, goals, grief, values, trauma and relapse, perfectionism, loneliness and isolation, and cross-addiction. Every module runs the same structure: check-in, theory, an experiential dynamic, shared reflection, and a commitment carried into the week. The cognitive work uses the ABC model, the same structure that underpins cognitive behavioural approaches: the event, the belief you attach to it, and the consequence that follows. It is taught, practised, applied between sessions and reviewed, rather than talked about once. ### Individual therapy alongside the group programme One-to-one sessions run three times a week and are where the material that will not surface in a group gets worked. For most people that is the thing underneath the use rather than the use itself. You are treated by the same small team throughout, in the same house. Nobody is handed between departments, and there is no rotation of therapists mid-stay. ### Yoga, meditation and body-based work Saturdays turn to holistic and body-based practice: yoga, meditation and mindfulness, breathwork, art, and time outdoors on the land. This is not decoration and it is not a spa timetable. Early recovery is a physiological event as much as a psychological one, and sleep, appetite and the ability to sit still are usually the first things to return. The self-care and habits module runs alongside it, treating rest as a right rather than a reward and food as connection rather than control. ### Equine therapy on working farmland The horses live here, on the forty hectares around the house, and equine work is part of the working week. Horses respond to what you are actually feeling rather than what you say you are feeling, which is why the work reaches people who have learned to talk their way around a therapy session. ### What happens when you go home Aftercare is planned before you leave rather than mentioned on the last day. For clients returning to the UK, care continues online or in person at the PROMIS clinics in London, with a weekly session for a full year, more than 48 in the twelve months after discharge, and a written handover to your GP so nothing has to be explained from scratch. For clients elsewhere in Europe we arrange continuity online and help find local services. Alongside that, mutual-aid groups are free, run everywhere, and are worth using whatever else you choose. ## Who will actually treat your ketamine addiction A small team, in one house, in English. You are not handed between departments and there is no rotation of therapists halfway through your stay. ### Nerea Encinas Sánchez Director · General Health Psychologist MSc General Health Psychology. Leads clinical standards, the assessment you have before you travel, and admissions. ### Berenice Paramés Jones General Health Psychologist Individual and group psychological work inside the house, crisis follow-up and coordination of the group programme. ### Marta Leal Social worker Family mediation, links to services back home, and preparing for independent life after discharge. ### Robin Lefever Founder of Sierra Recovery; MD, PROMIS Clinics UK Founder of Sierra Recovery and Managing Director of PROMIS Clinics, whose method this programme adapts. PROMIS has been treating addiction in the United Kingdom since the mid-1980s, and Robin has worked in addiction treatment for around 35 years, with thousands of patients treated with the PROMIS method in the United Kingdom. [Meet the whole clinical team and their qualifications](/clinical-team/). ## What is treated, and what that looks like day to day What you arrive with How it is worked Cravings and low mood Most intense in the first fortnight. Structure, group contact and daily outdoor activity, with the emotions and crisis-management modules and individual therapy three times a week. Bladder symptoms Taken seriously and referred. Urological assessment is arranged through the appropriate medical route and quoted separately. Symptoms very often improve substantially once use stops. Dissociation Body-based and grounding work on the holistic days, alongside the emotions module. Coming back into the body is a large part of what the first weeks are for. What the drug was avoiding The centre of the work. Ketamine is unusually often a way of not being present for distress, so the trauma, emotions and self-esteem modules carry most of the weight here. Trauma The trauma and relapse module, run alongside the addiction work rather than after it. See [trauma and addiction](/trauma-and-addiction-rehab-spain/). Cognitive fog It improves with abstinence, slowly. The curriculum is repeated, applied between sessions and reviewed rather than delivered once, which is deliberate. ## Treatment options for ketamine addiction, and how they compare Residential rehab is one treatment option among several, and it is not automatically the right one. Being straight about that is more useful to you than a page that pretends otherwise. Option What it involves, and who it suits Medical detox Not usually needed for ketamine alone. Arranged where alcohol, benzodiazepines or GHB are used alongside. Residential rehab inpatient treatment Living at the centre for the whole programme. It suits daily or solitary use, and anyone whose bladder symptoms have already started, because stopping early is what protects the bladder. Outpatient treatment day programmes and therapy sessions Attending sessions and going home between them. Reasonable where use is occasional and there is real support around you. Community and NHS services Free local drug and alcohol treatment services, reached through your GP or by self-referral. Waiting times vary and residential placements are rationed, but the support is real and it costs nothing. For many people this is the right first step rather than a lesser one. Mutual aid and support groups Free peer support meeting in person and online, everywhere, with no waiting list and no cost. Worth using alongside whatever else you choose rather than instead of it. A treatment plan should be built around your circumstances. If an outpatient or community route fits you better, we will say so at assessment and we will not charge you for the conversation. ## The therapies used, in plain terms Every centre lists the same acronyms, so here is what each one actually is and where it appears in the week. Therapy What it is, and when you would meet it here Cognitive behavioural therapy CBT, and the related REBT Evidence-based work on the link between an event, the belief you attach to it and what you then do. Taught through the ABC model in psychoeducation, practised in group therapy and applied between sessions. It is the backbone of the cognitive work rather than an optional extra. Acceptance and commitment therapy ACT Learning to have a difficult feeling without having to act on it, and choosing behaviour by your values instead. Module eight, on emotions, is built on it. Dialectical behaviour therapy DBT Distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal skills, used where emotions arrive faster and larger than they can be managed. See [DBT](/dialectical-behaviour-therapy/). EMDR A structured trauma therapy, used where trauma is driving the use and always after stabilisation rather than before it. See [EMDR](/emdr-therapy/). Group therapy Three group sessions a day, five days a week: a process group, a therapeutic group and psychoeducation. It is the largest single component of the treatment programme. See [group therapy](/group-therapy-for-addiction/). Individual therapy one-to-one counselling Three therapy sessions a week with the same clinician throughout, where material that will not surface in a group gets worked. Family therapy Offered where it is wanted, in person or online, because the people around you are part of what happens next. See [the family programme](/family-programme/). Motivational interviewing Used throughout rather than booked as a session. It is the stance the team takes: working with your reasons for change rather than arguing you into someone else’s. Holistic therapies Yoga, mindfulness and meditation, breathwork, art and equine work, on Saturdays and through the week. See [equine therapy](/equine-therapy/) and [all our therapies](/therapies/). Every element above is delivered by the clinical team as part of the residential programme. Your treatment plan sets out which of them apply to you, and it is reviewed during the stay rather than fixed on day one. ## Where else to get help, free Not everyone needs residential rehab, and nobody should be waiting on a private programme before they get any support at all. Everything below is free, and none of these organisations pays or receives a fee from us. Organisation What they do [NHS drug and alcohol services](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/addiction-support/drug-addiction-getting-help/) Free local treatment services, reached through your GP or by self-referral. The usual starting point for community-based drug and alcohol treatment. [Talk to FRANK](https://www.talktofrank.com/) Confidential drugs information and advice, 24 hours a day, on 0300 123 6600. No judgement and no cost. [Narcotics Anonymous](https://ukna.org/) Free mutual aid meetings for anyone with a drug problem, in person and online, with no cost and no waiting list. [We Are With You](https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/) Free, confidential support for drug, alcohol and mental health problems, in person in many areas and by webchat. [Adfam](https://adfam.org.uk/) Support and information for families and friends affected by someone else’s drug, alcohol or gambling use. [Samaritans](https://www.samaritans.org/) Free and confidential, 24 hours a day on 116 123, for anyone struggling to cope or having thoughts of suicide. Sierra Recovery neither pays nor accepts referral fees, so nothing on this list depends on where you go. If a free or community service is the right fit for you, use it. ## How to get ready - Compare on licence, not on photographsAsk any centre abroad for its registration number and the register it sits on, then look it up yourself. Ours is N.I.C.A. 67331 on the Junta de Andalucía register. - Get the medical picture togetherCurrent medications, any previous withdrawal, and any diagnosed conditions. This is what the pre-travel assessment needs, and it is what decides whether a detox is required first. - Ask what the price actually includesOurs is published: private room, meals, the core therapy programme, and a year of weekly UK aftercare, with medical, psychiatric, laboratory and hospital costs quoted separately. You get an itemised written quotation before admission. - Get the bladder symptoms looked at nowDo not wait for treatment. Pain, urgency, bleeding or cramping needs a doctor this week, because early damage improves and late damage does not. - Say what else is in the mixAlcohol, benzodiazepines, GHB or GBL, cocaine. These are the ones that decide whether a medically supervised withdrawal is needed first. ## How Sierra compares with private ketamine rehab at home What you get Sierra Recovery Typical private residential clinic 28-day residential programme £9,900, published in full UK £12,000–£40,000 · Australia A$30,000–A$50,000 Is the price on the website Yes, in full Usually "contact us for pricing" Your own private room Included as standard Often an upgrade Referral fees paid to third parties None Common Written itemised quotation before admission Yes Varies Distance from the people and places tied to use Rural Andalucía Usually close to home Medically supervised detox Arranged and quoted separately Quoted separately Comparison figures are the published ranges collected on our [cost calculator](/cost-calculator/): the United Kingdom at roughly £12,000 to £40,000 a month, Australia at roughly A$30,000 to A$50,000, and the United States at roughly $20,000 to $40,000 for a 30-day programme. New Zealand, South African and Canadian ranges are set out on the [country cost guides](/local-treatment-guides/). Indicative, not a quotation. Every clinic sets its own fees. ## When ketamine sits on top of something else More often than with almost any other drug. Heavy ketamine use is very frequently a response to trauma, depression, anxiety or a state of mind that has become unbearable to be present for. Treating the using while sending the rest elsewhere rarely holds. At Sierra the emotional and trauma work runs alongside the addiction curriculum rather than after it. Our [dual diagnosis](/dual-diagnosis-rehab-spain/), [depression](/depression-rehab-spain/) and [trauma and addiction](/trauma-and-addiction-rehab-spain/) pages explain how the two are worked with together. Where psychiatric care or medication is part of your treatment, it is arranged through the appropriate medical route. ## When is it time? Ketamine has a reputation for being harmless that its own users tend to repeat right up until the bladder symptoms start. If you are using alone, redosing without deciding to, or noticing anything wrong when you pass urine, that is enough. The bladder damage is the part that becomes permanent, and it is the part that stops getting worse when the use does. ### Talk to a clinician today You will speak to our admissions team, all of them clinicians. Confidential, no obligation, and we will tell you honestly whether this programme fits or whether something closer to home would serve you better. [See how admission works](/admissions/) [What £9,900 covers](/pricing/) ## Questions people actually ask Is ketamine actually addictive? Yes. It does not produce the dramatic physical withdrawal that alcohol or opioids do, which is why so many people believe it is not, but tolerance builds unusually fast and psychological dependence and compulsive redosing are well documented. Treatment services in the UK have seen ketamine presentations rise substantially, particularly among younger adults. Do I need a detox before I come? Usually not for ketamine on its own, because withdrawal is predominantly psychological. We assess everyone before they travel because ketamine is often used alongside alcohol, benzodiazepines or GHB, and withdrawal from those can be dangerous. Where a medically supervised detox is needed it is completed in an appropriate medical setting before admission and billed separately. Will my bladder recover? It depends on how far the damage has gone. Ketamine-induced uropathy often improves substantially when use stops, particularly if it is caught early. Advanced damage can be irreversible and in the worst cases requires surgery. This is why we ask people not to wait for a treatment date before seeing a doctor about urinary symptoms. How long does ketamine withdrawal last? Cravings, low mood, anxiety, irritability and poor sleep typically settle within one to two weeks. What lasts longer is the flatness and the difficulty being present without the drug, which is the part the residential programme is built around rather than the acute phase. How long is the programme and what does it cost? It is a 28-day residential programme, published in full at GBP 9,900. That covers a private room, meals, the core therapy programme, and a year of weekly UK aftercare. Detox, where needed, is arranged and billed separately, as are medical, urological, psychiatric and laboratory costs. You get an itemised written quotation before admission. I use ketamine because it helps my depression. Is that different? Ketamine is used clinically for treatment-resistant depression, but at controlled doses, under medical supervision, in a monitored setting and alongside psychological treatment. That is a different thing from self-medicating, which produces tolerance, bladder damage and a deepening dependence on being absent from your own mind. If depression is what is underneath, it is treated here directly. See our [depression](/depression-rehab-spain/) page. How do I get help for ketamine addiction? The first step towards recovery is an assessment, and ours is free and carries no obligation. You can also seek help through your GP, through a free local drug and alcohol treatment service, or through a mutual aid group, and none of those routes costs anything. If you want to talk it through with a clinician, call +44 1202 653136 and you will reach our admissions team. What does ketamine addiction treatment involve, from start to finish? The course of treatment runs in four stages. An assessment before you travel, which decides whether a medically supervised detox is needed first. Any detox, completed in an appropriate medical setting and billed separately. Then the 28-day residential treatment programme itself: three group therapy sessions a day, individual therapy three times a week and the seventeen-module curriculum. Then aftercare, agreed before you leave and continuing online or in person in London. How much does ketamine rehab cost, and what affects the price? Sierra publishes a single figure: GBP 9,900 for the 28-day residential programme, with a private room included. What changes the total is whether you need a medically supervised detox, which is arranged and billed separately, and any medical, psychiatric or laboratory costs. Private residential rehab elsewhere commonly runs from around GBP 12,000 to GBP 40,000 a month in the United Kingdom and from roughly A$30,000 to A$50,000 in Australia. You get an itemised written quotation before admission, and we neither pay nor accept referral fees. What are the signs and symptoms of ketamine addiction? The signs are needing far more than you used to quite quickly, using alone at home rather than socially, redosing through the day, and a persistent fog when sober. The symptom that needs a doctor this week rather than eventually is pain or blood when passing urine, which indicates bladder damage. Is lasting recovery from ketamine addiction actually possible? Yes, and the evidence is better than the public conversation suggests. What predicts long-term recovery is not willpower but what is in place afterwards: continuing therapy, a treated mental health condition, a support network and a relapse plan that was written before it was needed. That is why completing ketamine rehab matters less on its own than what follows it, and why aftercare is planned during the stay, so it is in place before you leave. How can I help someone with ketamine addiction? Start by getting support for yourself, because living alongside someone with an addiction is its own burden and Adfam and Al-Anon exist for exactly that. Beyond that: raise it when they are not intoxicated, be specific about what you have seen rather than general about what they are, and offer a concrete next step such as an assessment or a call to a free service. Ultimatums delivered in anger rarely work. We speak to families every day and that conversation costs nothing. + ## Talk to a clinician today You will speak to our admissions team, English-speaking clinicians who know the programme and the people in it. Callback within 24 hours. Step 1 of 3 Confidential, and no obligation Registered health centre. Authorised by the Junta de Andalucía, N.I.C.A. 67331. ### Related pages [The Regulation Model](/the-regulation-model/)[Assessment & detox](/medical-assessment-and-detox/)[Our programme](/our-programme-at-sierra-recovery/)[Dual diagnosis](/dual-diagnosis-rehab-spain/)[Pricing](/pricing/)[Admissions](/admissions/) --- Source: https://sierrarecoveryspain.com/ketamine-addiction-treatment/ Retrieved: 2026-08-27 Canonical HTML version of this page: https://sierrarecoveryspain.com/ketamine-addiction-treatment/