10 Music Tips That Actually Improve Your Spravato Sessions
Most Spravato patients receive very little guidance on how to prepare for their sessions. They are told to eat beforehand, arrange a ride home, and sit in the monitoring room for two hours. What they are rarely told is that the choices they make about music can change what those two hours accomplish. You have more influence over the quality of your treatment than most people realize.
"You have more influence over the quality of your treatment than most people realize."
Build your playlist before you arrive
This sounds obvious, but most patients do not do it. They show up to their appointment, realize they need something to listen to, and spend the first ten minutes scrolling through their phone. By the time the medicine is taking effect, the window for intentional music selection has closed. Build your playlist at home, the night before or the morning of your appointment.
Use headphones, not speakers
The clinical environment is full of sounds you cannot control: HVAC systems, equipment, staff conversations, other patients. Headphones create an inner acoustic space that makes all of that irrelevant. Over-ear, noise-isolating headphones are significantly better than earbuds for this purpose. The difference is real.
Start the music before the medicine
Do not wait until the medicine is taking effect to start your playlist. Start it as soon as you sit down — ideally before the first dose. This gives your nervous system time to settle into the music before the dissociation begins, and establishes the music as the primary sensory input from the start.
Choose music that moves you, not just music that is calm
There is a common misconception that Spravato music needs to be neutral or purely relaxing. It does not. What it needs to be is emotionally resonant and free of lyrics. Music that moves you — that carries emotional weight, that feels meaningful — is more therapeutically valuable than music that is merely pleasant.
Avoid lyrics
This is the single most consistent recommendation across all research on music in ketamine and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Lyrics engage the language-processing mind and pull you out of the non-verbal, felt experience that makes Spravato effective. Instrumental music only. No exceptions.
Do not use shuffle mode
The arc of the session matters. Onset, peak, and integration each call for different music — and the transitions between phases should feel intentional, not random. A playlist that moves from gentle and grounding to emotionally expansive and back to warm and resolved is doing therapeutic work. A shuffled playlist is not.
Test your playlist before your session
Listen to your playlist at home before your appointment — ideally in a quiet, relaxed state. Notice how each track feels. Does it ground you? Does it open you up? Does it feel jarring or anxiety-provoking? Remove anything that does not feel right. A playlist you have tested is a playlist you can trust.
Have a backup plan
Technology fails. Phones die. Bluetooth headphones disconnect. Streaming services buffer. Bring a backup: a downloaded playlist that does not require internet, a fully charged device, and a wired headphone option if possible. I have had all of these things go wrong at the worst possible moment.
Use music for integration too
The session does not end when you leave the clinic. The integration period — the hours and days after your treatment — is when much of the therapeutic work is consolidated. After your appointment, spend some time in quiet reflection with soft, grounding music. Let the experience settle before re-engaging with the demands of ordinary life.
Treat each session as a practice
Your relationship with music during Spravato sessions will evolve over time. What works in your first session may not be what works in your tenth. Pay attention to what opens you up and what closes you down. Adjust your playlist accordingly. This is not a one-time setup — it is an ongoing practice.
The book
The resource that brings it all together
Listening to Spravato gives patients exactly this kind of practical guidance — not just what music to listen to, but how to think about music as a therapeutic tool across the full arc of treatment.
Now available
The Listening to Spravato® Book
Genre guides, session playlists, and the science of music-assisted healing — by Justin Page