Psychotherapy duration and work disability: A prospective Finnish register study

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry and Mental Health
• Health Services Research
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Psychotherapy duration's impact on common mental disorder (CMD) outcomes is debated.
• Research often overlooks CMD-related work disability and psychotropic drug use changes.
• Evidence on psychotherapy length and these specific outcomes is scarce.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of psychotherapy duration on CMD-related work disability.
• To analyze changes in psychotropic drug purchases based on psychotherapy length.
• To compare outcomes across different psychotherapy durations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a Finnish register-based cohort (N=12,047) of working-age individuals starting long-term psychotherapy (2014-2017).
• Employed an interrupted time series design to analyze sickness absence days and psychotropic drug purchases.
• Followed participants from 2011 to 2021, examining psychotherapy durations from <1 year to 3+ years.

Main Results:

• No pre-psychotherapy differences in work disability or drug purchases were observed.
• All psychotherapy duration groups showed decreasing trends in work disability and drug purchases.
• The <1-year group exhibited the largest decline (88% for sickness absence, 43-44% for drug purchases).

Conclusions:

• Shorter psychotherapy durations were associated with sharper improvements in work disability and drug purchases compared to longer durations.
• Outcomes varied even among individuals with similar baseline conditions.
• Findings suggest shorter psychotherapy may yield more significant improvements in specific CMD outcomes.