Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez disbursed almost $19,000 in campaign funds last year to a psychiatrist celebrated for his avant-garde ketamine treatments, as per Federal Election Commission records.
The New York Democrat’s campaign made a total payment of $18,725 to Dr. Brian Boyle of Boston’s Stella mental health clinics over three transactions in 2025. These expenses were categorized as “leadership training and consulting.”
The payments included $11,550 in March, $2,800 in May, and $4,375 in October, as reported by the New York Post.
It remains unclear what specific services were rendered or who attended these sessions. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign has not provided a comment.
Dr. Boyle, trained at Harvard, identifies as an “interventional psychiatrist,” treating severe depression, PTSD, and anxiety with unconventional methods. His focus on ketamine therapy has garnered both interest and controversy.
“I just saw the incredible power of what these treatments could do,” Boyle stated during a podcast last year. “It’s a ton of fun helping patients get better.”
His clinics also provide other luxury treatments, such as the stellate ganglion block, which aims to alleviate the body’s stress response. This method has received endorsements from notable figures like Bob Parsons for its effectiveness in treating PTSD.
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Boyle commented on the trend of wealthy clients seeking innovative health solutions: “Celebrities tend to be more inclined to be on the hunt for highly effective solutions across beauty, health, mental health, nutrition, and so on.”
Ocasio-Cortez has consistently advocated for easing restrictions on psychedelic substances for scientific research. She has repeatedly pushed for federal investigations into compounds like psilocybin and MDMA since her initial term.
“It’s well past time we take drug use out of criminal consideration and into medical consideration,” she stated in 2019.
While some of her initial proposals faltered, including a party-line rejection, subsequent efforts led to successful legislation passed in 2023.
Ocasio-Cortez has been transparent about her own mental health challenges, indicating she sought therapy following the trauma of the January 6 Capitol unrest.
“Oh yeah, I’m doing therapy,” she shared in a 2021 interview, recalling a day when she felt her life was in danger. “An extraordinarily traumatizing event.”
She has also spoken about her experiences with burnout after her successful 2018 campaign, reflecting on her lifestyle changes: “I neglected myself.”
This expenditure has drawn scrutiny from various watchdog groups, questioning the legitimacy of using campaign funds in this manner.
“While I can understand why AOC would spend $18,000 for a shrink whose specialties include narcissistic personality disorders, using her campaign contributions for what appears to be an expense for personal use violates federal campaign finance laws,” commented Paul Kamenar, counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center.
“While she describes these expenses as ‘leadership training,’ Dr. Boyle has no expertise in that area, unlike several Democratic campaign consultants,” he added, labeling this as yet another indication of campaign fund misuse.
Although ketamine treatments have garnered attention recently, professionals caution that the drug carries inherent risks.
“There’s a risk of people receiving infusions for ketamine without an appropriate diagnostic workup and considering other factors which may be responsible for their symptoms,” Dr. Simon Dosovitz noted. “It is a strongly dissociative drug.”
