Mental health is a component of care that should be addressed for burn patients while they are hospitalized. Unfortunately, dedicated burn psychotherapists are rare in burn centers in the United States (US), and it can take months for patients to be seen by a mental health professional after referral. Our burn center has a dedicated licensed clinical social worker who sees patients within two business days of referral. She uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is designed to alleviate symptoms of anxiety, depression, and acute stress by modifying the individual's maladaptive thoughts. To evaluate the timely use of CBT as a treatment for depression in burn patients, we measured depressive symptoms before and after psychotherapy. Burn clinic nurses administered the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) depression screener as part of standard care. We computed difference scores to determine change in PHQ-9 scores at both group and individual levels. At a group level, psychotherapy significantly improved symptoms of depression, indicated by a decreased mean PHQ-9 score. On an individual level, half of the patients (50.7%) experienced a meaningful improvement in their symptoms, indicated by a change in their PHQ-9 depression category, while 35.6% showed no change. Although it was not an effective solution for all patients in this study, timely use of CBT could be an important component of burn care for many and should be considered as part of standard care in burn centers across the US.
Keywords: Burn; PHQ-9; cognitive behavioral therapy; depression; psychotherapy.
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