If you are a Spravato patient trying to find good music to support your treatment, you may have come across the Johns Hopkins Ketamine Playlist. This list is found quickly when patients search for information about the playlist for Spravato, but the Hopkins Playlist was not designed for Spravato and the distinction is important for many reasons. Spravato is not IV Ketamine, which means the type of music you would use in one is very different than the other. Below, I will explain why the Hopkins Playlist fails Spravato patients and how ListenSpravato.com is different.

It Was Built for a Different Treatment

The Hopkins Playlist was designed to be used for IV Ketamine infusions and for each session, which can take 1.5 to 2 hours, the infusion follows a psychedelic arch that slowly builds over that time. Spravato, on the other hand, has a starkly different timeline. When compared to infusions, the onset for Spravato is much more rapid, the peak is even more sharp, and the duration of the peak is even shorter. The entire clinical environment is structured and way more active than what is experienced with Ketamine infusions.

The Hopkins Playlist is too long and doesn't allow the patient to reach their peak at the same time as the patient in treatment. In addition, the emotional tone of the music doesn't align with the treatment and is generally listless and dull. That's not a coincidence. That's bad timing in the playlist design.

Cultural Lens Is Narrow

The Hopkins playlist uses a particular genre of indie folk cross-pollinated with Americana and Western classical music. This cultural lens may communicate differently, or maybe not at all, to many listeners. Spravato is prescribed to people of all backgrounds, and what may ground one patient may create distance for another. Emotional resonance is culturally bound. A playlist that assumes the same frame of reference will leave the majority of the patients feeling disconnected at the very moment that they must feel connected.

The Mastering Is All Over the Place

This is the most significant issue that gets ignored the most. The Hopkins playlist combines recordings that have been analog mastered, digitally compressed, and mixed in a wide dynamic range along with others that have been mastered to the loudness standard. This means that from one track to the next, you have unpredictable changes to the volume, the stereo width, and the density.

Although you may not notice this in regular circumstances, during a Spravato treatment, where the boundaries of self and sound are beginning to intermingle, those changes are disruptive and may pull the patient out of a trance.

The Sequencing Doesn't Follow the Session Arc

Even with the problems of timing and mastering, the internal organization of the playlist is confusing and erratic. Genres shift. Moods do, too. There's no indication of emotional progression, nor does the administration of Spravato treat patients through the onset → peak → return of the arc. Therapeutic playlists should guide the patient through this arc; they should not allow the patient to wander.

What the ListenSpravato Playlists Do Instead

The free playlists at ListenSpravato.com were created specifically for Spravato by a conservatory school-trained musician who went through the treatment. Every decision was made based on the physiology of esketamine and the specifics of a Spravato treatment session:

  • They are timed for the arc of Spravato, not IV Ketamine.
  • They are mastered to eliminate unwanted changes in volume or position of the sounds in the musical picture, and to remain stable throughout.
  • Tracks were selected to resonate with the differences in cultures around the world, and in various domains, not just the Western world.
  • They are sequenced (placed in an order) to fill the intended places in the arc of the treatment.
  • They are offered without any restriction; there are no pay walls or subscriptions.

Spravato Is Its Own Modality

The Johns Hopkins Ketamine Playlist is an important addition to therapy music history, but patients of Spravato shouldn't have to resort to using a playlist that was not designed for them. The treatment is unique enough, and the role of music is important enough, that it deserves its own tools. ListenSpravato playlists were designed for this purpose.

For patients that want to know more about the neuroscience behind the treatment, phase-by-phase timing, and the use of each musical genre, the only playlist designed for this treatment is Listening To Spravato.