A Program Evaluation of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Abstract

Purpose: This program evaluation analyzed the effects of a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) program for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) at a private mental health practice located in Tucson, Arizona. This program evaluation sought to specifically assess its effect on its patients’ depressive symptoms, based on their pre- and post-treatment Patient HealthQuestionnaire (PHQ-9) scores. Background: TRD is an increasingly prevalent psychiatric condition that is typically characterized by a lack of remission in depressive symptoms after undergoing two or more treatments for depression. Ketamine has been used off-label as an alternative pharmacological treatment for depression and other psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Research on the use of ketamine for the treatment of psychiatric disorders shows effectiveness at reducing symptoms of depression as well as other mental health disorders. Methods: Since June 2021, TCA has implemented a KAP program and had 38 participants participate in it to date. The effects of TCA’s KAP program on these patients’ depressive symptoms were analyzed by evaluating their pre- and post-treatment PHQ-9 scores. Results: After conducting paired t-tests, a statistically significant change was observed in all patients as well as just those patients who were actively diagnosed with major depressive disorders (MDD) pre- and post-treatment PHQ-9 scores. Descriptive statistics also showed that most patients participated in an average of 6 KAP sessions during their time at TCA, and the patients who appeared to have the greatest change in PHQ-9 scores throughout treatment were those who presented with severe depression (per PHQ-9 rankings) at baseline. Conclusions: The program evaluation of the KAP program at TCA provides an opportunity to detail the construction of a psychiatric treatment modality that currently does not have a set parameter of guidelines regarding how one should be structured. With a topic such as KAP which has room to expand upon within the research, program evaluations can offer an evaluation for relevant stakeholders into the benefits of their program and provide others with an understanding of how the KAP program at TCA functions.