Sherry Rais on Ketamine-Assisted Therapy
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Sherry Rais, CEO of Enthea, is working to solve the problem of inaccessible mental health treatments. In her conversation with Zoe Weil, she discusses:
- The scale of the mental health crisis: Up to 60% of people with mental health conditions are treatment-resistant—meaning traditional treatments won’t help them. Yet effective alternatives exist that are, on average, four times more effective than antidepressants. Most people simply don’t know about them, can’t afford them, or can’t access them due to stigma and lack of insurance coverage.
- A healthcare system built on chronic care: Sherry draws on her experience building a US-based healthcare company to make a pointed observation: America spends more per person on healthcare than almost any developed nation, yet outcomes lag behind. The incentive structure, she argues, rewards keeping people sick. Every chronic condition that requires a daily pill is a win for pharma.
- A brief history of ketamine-assisted therapy, and what it reveals about the system: Generic ketamine costs roughly a dollar a dose, is three times more effective than the brand-name version, and typically requires only a handful of sessions. Johnson & Johnson mirrored the molecule, patented it as a nasal spray called Spravato®, priced it at ~$800 a dose, and generated over $1 billion in sales in 2024 alone. The branded version requires patients to stay on antidepressants indefinitely. The generic version, despite superior outcomes, remains without FDA approval.
- Transforming fury into action: Sherry experiences real rage at injustice but channels it privately through daily calls with her brother and journaling so she can show up publicly focused on solutions rather than complaints. Zoe said the same is true for her: confronting the world’s cruelties without an outlet makes it impossible to show up with the love and strategy that change actually requires.
- Selfless service as a way of life (Seva): Raised by immigrant parents with a strong ethic of seva (selfless service without expectation of return), Sherry describes helping others not as sacrifice but as the one thing that creates genuine flow in her life. She questions a culture oriented around consumption and entertainment, not from judgment but from a deep personal clarity about what actually nourishes her.
- The psilocybin inflection point: Promising psychedelic therapies for PTSD, depression, and end-of-life distress exist, but legal access is limited to a handful of states and countries. Sherry’s concern isn’t just regulatory; she worries that unsupervised recreational use could trigger a backlash that sets the field back 50 years, as happened during the Reagan era when mushrooms and cocaine were lumped together in anti-drug messaging.
- Money as a river: Sherry uses the metaphor of money as a river, something that flows toward people she cares about, nourishing the world around it. But she’s still working through the tension: rivers without boundaries flood and erode their own banks. Giving as an expression of love can tip into self-betrayal. She contrasts this with a “fortress” mentality, hoarding water until it pools behind a dam, and says she doesn’t want that either. She’s still finding the balance.