Dr. Ben Yudkoff, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer at Lumin Health, hosted a Reddit AMA on the Spravato community on November 21, 2025. The below blog post is a recap of one of the questions presented on that AMA, syndicated to the Lumin Health blog in the event that it answers any questions about ketamine therapy, Spravato treatment, or general concerns you may have about treatment.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Spravato/comments/1p2ar6v/ama_im_dr_ben_yudkoff_psychiatrist_cofounder/
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you’re interested in learning more about ketamine for depression at Lumin Health. Thank you once again to the moderators and community members for facilitating such an engaging discussion.
Muted_Kiwi4206 asks
Hello. On Spravato for 3 years. Are the brain improvements permanent or can the bad paths come back?
Answer:
Great question. Muted Kiwi, I'm not sure I have a clear cut answer. In general, having been in and around the world of ketamine and Spravato for years, I can't say for sure that anyone is ever, at the jump, securely in the "permanent improvement" camp. There are people who have taken this medication, just like yourself, for years, and continue to experience remission (i.e., absence of depressive symptoms). As the causes of depression can be cause by so many things -- psychological factors, genetic factors, biological/genetic factors, general health factors, socioeconomic factors - to name a few - it's impossible to say whether a really long duration of improvement (which is amazing, by the way, and something I get to see regularly) will remain categorically so over time. It sounds like you are doing some amazing work and that the treatment has compelled some important direction-setting. Keep nimble. Stay self aware. Maintain conversations with the people you've chosen to play helping roles in your life. Keep on developing. Spravato plays a role and can be a medication used in partnership with all the good things that you do. Plus, those good things, independent of Spravato, can only be helpful.
All said, and speaking very generally, challenging ways of thinking and feeling can certainly come back, but only time can tell, and if you decide to change the frequency or regularity of treatment, create some good contingency plans. These can look like: I've been coming for three years and I want to spread treatments out a little, maybe every other week - can we hold my appointment times in case I notice symptoms coming back. [OR] I'd like to pause treatment for a spell - when is a good time to do that (thinking about any patterns in your depression or considerations in your insurance authorization period, for example) and how do we plan around a potential return. You are also free to keep things as is and continuing to benefit!
