Ketamine-Assisted Group Psychotherapy for Frontline Healthcare Workers with COVID-19-Related Burnout and PTSD: A Case Series of Effectiveness/Safety for 10 Participants

• Published in: Journal of psychoactive drugs 2024-01, Vol.56 (1), p.1-32
• Main Authors: Robison, Reid, Brendle, Madeline, Moore, Claire, Cross, Hannah, Helm, Lindsay, Darling, Shannon, Thayer, Stephen, Thielking, Paul, Shannon, Scott
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety; Burnout; Clinical significance; COVID-19; Ketamine; Medical personnel; Mental depression; Post traumatic stress disorder; Psychotherapy
• ISSN: 0279-1072; 2159-9777
• DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2023.2186285

This study reports on 10 frontline healthcare workers, employed during the COVID-19 pandemic and experiencing symptoms of burnout and PTSD, treated with group ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) in a private outpatient clinic setting. Participants attended 6 sessions once weekly. These included 1 preparation session, 3 ketamine sessions (2 sublingual, 1 intramuscular), 2 integration sessions. Measures of PTSD (PCL-5), depression (PHQ-9), and anxiety (GAD-7) were administered at baseline and post-treatment. During ketamine sessions, the Emotional Breakthrough Inventory (EBI) and the 30-item Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ-30) were recorded. Participant feedback was gathered 1-month post-treatment. We observed improvements in participants' average PCL-5 (59% reduction), PHQ-9 (58% reduction), and GAD-7 (36% reduction) scores from pre- to post-treatment. At post-treatment, 100% of participants screened negative for PTSD, 90% had minimal/mild depression or clinically significant improvement, and 60% had minimal/mild anxiety or clinically significant improvement. MEQ and EBI scores had large variations among participants at each ketamine session. Ketamine was well tolerated, and no significant adverse events were reported. Participant feedback corroborated findings of improvements observed in mental health symptoms. We found immediate improvements treating 10 frontline healthcare workers experiencing burnout, PTSD, depression, and anxiety using weekly group KAP and integration.