A webinar hosted by the Pulmonary Hypertension Knowledge Sharing Platform this week talked about a couple of studies on mental health in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
In one study--not surprisingly--60% of respondents said PH had a major impact on their quality of life.
They found that people with PAH experience anxiety and depression at unusually high rates.
Another small, preliminary study in the UK found evidence that a type of therapy called cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) might help reduce anxiety and depression in PH patients. Participants in the study did a four-week self-help CBT program that used booklets and exercises.
The panellists had an interesting discussion about stigma and mental health care. Anecdotally, they found an offer of mental health care had low take-up if it was offered at diagnosis for people to accept or decline as they chose. They found there was perhaps better take-up if it was normalized and treated as just another part of what you have to do for your PAH, and suggested that therapists be a part of PAH clinic care teams.
Watch the webinar below. You can download the presenters' slides from the Pulmonary Hypertension Knowledge Sharing Platform website: https://ph-ksp.com/mental-health-in-pulmonary-arterial-hypertension/
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