Ketamine-Assisted Group Therapy for Work-Related Stress in First Responders and Frontline Health Care Workers.

Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.) Pub Date : 2025-08-28 eCollection Date: 2025-08-01 DOI:10.1089/psymed.2024.0050
Luke Flynn, Mary Rondeau, Martin Krsak, Scott Shannon
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Abstract

Introduction: Ketamine is an evidenced-based treatment for depression, and it has shown promise in addressing many other mental health conditions related to work-related stress or burnout, such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) is part of an emerging model of psychedelic medicine that employs psychoactive agents to support the psychotherapeutic process. Frontline health care workers and first responders encountered excessive levels of job stress, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article reports on a 6-week community-based group-KAP program to address symptoms of trauma, anxiety, and depression in a sample of first responders and frontline health care workers.

Methods: Recruitment was self-directed based on a sense of work-related stress. All participants completed a 6-week ketamine-assisted psychotherapy group intervention with three to six participants per group. The group characteristics and repeated measures comparisons were analyzed via descriptive statistics, pre- and post-intervention measure comparisons and regression modeling.

Results: Sixteen patients received KAP in small groups with "pre" and "post" treatment evaluation of anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), and trauma (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition). Symptoms of trauma, anxiety, and depression were significantly reduced (p < 0.002) from "pre" to "post" test.

Conclusion: These results suggest that the community-based group-KAP program described here may be a useful treatment for work-related stress, though further formal evaluation is required. Future directions, limitations, and interpretations are discussed.

氯胺酮辅助小组治疗急救人员和一线医护人员的工作压力。
引言:氯胺酮是一种基于证据的抑郁症治疗方法,它在解决与工作压力或倦怠相关的许多其他精神健康状况(如焦虑和创伤后应激障碍)方面显示出了希望。氯胺酮辅助心理治疗(KAP)是一种新兴的迷幻药物模式的一部分,它使用精神活性药物来支持心理治疗过程。一线医护人员和急救人员面临着过高的工作压力,特别是在2019冠状病毒病大流行期间。本文报道了一项为期6周的基于社区的团体kap计划,以解决第一响应者和一线卫生保健工作者的创伤、焦虑和抑郁症状。方法:基于工作压力的自我导向招聘。所有参与者都完成了为期6周的氯胺酮辅助心理治疗组干预,每组3至6名参与者。通过描述性统计、干预前后措施比较和回归模型分析各组特征和重复措施比较。结果:16例患者接受KAP治疗,治疗前和治疗后分别评估焦虑(广泛性焦虑障碍-7)、抑郁(患者健康问卷-9)和创伤(《精神障碍诊断与统计手册》第五版创伤后应激障碍检查表)。从“测试前”到“测试后”,创伤、焦虑和抑郁症状显著减少(p < 0.002)。结论:这些结果表明,这里描述的基于社区的团体kap计划可能是一种有效的治疗工作压力的方法,尽管需要进一步的正式评估。讨论了未来的发展方向、局限性和解释。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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