Psychotherapy improves compliance in the treatment of tuberculosis

A serious concern is the fact that not all TB patients complete treatment completely. The physician should always strive to improve patient compliance. Indian doctors have assessed the impact of psychotherapy aimed at changing the patient’s attitude to treatment on patients’ compliance with short courses of anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy. A prospective and controlled study involved 200 patients with confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. Before the start of chemotherapy, the patients in the study group underwent a psychological evaluation, then they followed regular psychotherapeutic courses lasting 45 minutes. In the control group, only chemotherapy was performed.

The study and control groups were comparable in terms of demographic indicators. Patient income was mainly low or medium, and all patients lived in the city and suburbs, had misconceptions about the nature of the disease, and low motivation for treatment, significantly feared. Most patients equated the disappearance of symptoms with healing, and about half of the patients believed that the curse was the cause of the disease. After the courses, the study group showed greater compliance: they completed the complete treatment and recovered 72% of the patients studied and 42% of the patients in the control group. Through psychotherapy, patients were able to understand the nature of the disease and act on it to get rid of the disease. The cost of psychotherapy for 1 patient was approximately US $ 12, which was a quarter of the cost of chemotherapy, but these additional costs are of great importance in preventing the complications and consequences of stopping the drug prematurely. treatment.

Thus, psychotherapeutic intervention increases patient adherence to anti-tuberculosis therapy and can reduce the incidence of treatment failure, relapse and resistance of mycobacteria to anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy drugs.