The Therapeutic Alliance's Moderating Role on the Negative Relationship Between Dread of Ego Dissolution and Changes in Depression in Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression.
Abstract
Psilocybin-assisted therapy is an emerging treatment, with growing research suggesting it as a promising depression treatment. Previous research has suggested that when participants experience elevated levels of dread of ego dissolution (DED) during the acute psychedelic experience, clinical depression outcome measures show less improvement. It has been suggested that the positive therapeutic alliance may be a protective factor against DED and other possible negative acute experiences, but this has not been directly explored. This project will be a secondary analysis of data from Psilocybin in Depression Resistant to Standard Treatments (PsiDeR) study, a phase II, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial where participants received either 25 mg of psilocybin or a placebo alongside psychotherapy. This research seeks to determine whether the therapeutic alliance, measured by the Scale to Assess the Therapeutic Relationship-Patient/Clinician (STAR-P/C), moderates the relationship between the DED subscale of the 5-Dimension Altered State of Consciousness (5D-ASC) and changes in depression, measured by Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). We expect that better therapeutic alliances will protect against the negative impact of DED on changes in depression symptoms. This research will underline the importance of the therapeutic alliance when using psychedelics for treating psychiatric illnesses, like depression, in curating beneficial psychedelic experiences that will promote improvements in clinical outcomes.
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