Why You Should Avoid Lyrics During Spravato Sessions

If you find yourself slipping out of a Spravato® experience to analyze some of the lyrics, follow the story, and even sing along, you've experienced the pesky side effects of lyrics. It's not a choice. It's neuroscience.

The language center problem

Esketamine, the main active component in Spravato®, is believed to work by subduing the default mode network (DMN) of the brain. The DMN is responsible for an individual's self-reflection and negative self-criticism in addition to the ruminative thought patterns that occur in treatment-resistant depression. DMN subduction facilitates a brain state that is more plastic and open, allowing for the novelty and flexibility of thought and the formation of new connections, and it is during this state that Spravato® facilitates the therapeutic process.

Lyric engagement of Broca's area and Wernicke's area (brain language centers) reactivates the network the medicine is working to quell.

In short, lyrics pull you back into language. Language pulls you into the analytical mind. It is during language and the analytical mind that you should not be during a Spravato® session.

"Lyrics engage the analytical mind — the very network Spravato® is trying to quiet. Instrumental music lets the medicine work."

What about songs that you already know?

Some ask, "What if I know the song so well I almost don't process the words?" But it doesn't matter how well you know the song. Familiarity makes it worse. Highly familiar lyrics activate your autobiographical memory and access your feelings and stories from your past.

Similar to how music activates your memories, guided meditations tell you what to imagine. They also speak to you, which activates the same regions in the brain that manage your memory and the ability to process language. Because of their instructions, meditations also direct your attention and create structure to your inner experience. Because of this, meditations remove your ability to choose where you want to go. Unlike meditations, Spravato® doesn't direct your attention — it allows you the space to imagine and create. Both the medicine and the music you listen to already provide specific direction. Your part is to be present and not to follow someone else's script.

The same logic applies to guided meditations

Guided meditations tell you what to imagine and speak to you directly, which activates the same regions in the brain that manage memory and language processing. Because of their instructions, meditations direct your attention and create structure to your inner experience — removing your ability to choose where you want to go.

Unlike meditations, Spravato® doesn't direct your attention. It allows you the space to imagine and create. Your part is to be present and not to follow someone else's script.

What to listen to instead

Classical music and orchestral works by Arvo Pärt, Max Richter, and Debussy are great examples of music without text or words — rhythmic enough to captivate your attention but open enough not to direct your imagination. Similar styles can be found in ambient music represented by Brian Eno, Stars of the Lid, and Hammock. Instrumental jazz — Bill Evans, Miles Davis, and Keith Jarrett — also works well. Additionally, the New Age and Windham Hill genres offer calm tempos from artists like George Winston and Will Ackerman. The commonality between all of these styles is that none of them have words or a strong rhythmic demand, with enough openness to let your imagination go. Use our free curated playlists to find ready-to-use options in all genres. free curated playlists for ready-to-use options across all of these genres.