Clinical Drug Trials, Placebo and Emotional Intelligence (Part 1)
The goals for clinical trials on drugs require the use of carefully designed
research procedures. First, extensive preliminary
research is done to study the effects of varying doses of
a drug on laboratory animals. If these tests suggest that
the drug is effective and does not have harmful side effects,
the drug is administered to human beings under
carefully controlled conditions. If these results are also
positive, the drug may be approved for large-scale clinical
trials and scientifically compared with other treatment methods.
If it passes these tests successfully, it may
be approved for use in clinical practice.
Clinical Trials:
Clinical trials involving drugs and
other therapeutic procedures can be complex and costly,
and may extend over many years. They often include
samples of subjects located throughout the country and
even the world. The following are some of the steps in
a clinical trial.
1. Planning the research design and statistical analyses.
2. Deciding on the dependent measures to be used in
evaluating the trial.
3. Organizing procedures for gathering data.
4. Assigning subjects to treatments.
5. Assuring that clinical personnel are "blind" to the
assigned treatment whenever possible.
In the course of conducting clinical trials, scientists
must be careful to rule out alternative explanations
for the results they get. In addition to the enthusiasm
effect discussed earlier, researchers have to be aware of
a placebo often referred to as a "sugar
pill" is an inactive substance that has no pharmacological
effects but under certain conditions may produce
noticeable improvements in patients.
When a placebo is effective, it is because it has
some of the same suggestive properties as a real treatment.
Physicians know that the confidence with which
they prescribe given medicines can influence their patients'
reactions. Suggestible patients often show great
improvement if a drug, even a chemically inactive one,
is presented to them as a "wonder drug."
It might seem sufficient to evaluate the effectiveness
of drugs by comparing placebo groups with groups
that are given chemically potent drugs. Actually, this is
not the case, because the knowledge of which patients
have received active substances and which ones have not
can have a considerable influence on a physicians behavior
or evaluations. Thus he double-blind method is
used to ensure that none of the participants knows
whether the drug given to a particular patient is active
or inert.
Comparative Studies/Emotional Intelligence.
When we reviewed the psychological
therapies we mentioned the need to compare
different approaches in order to identify the ones that
are likely to be most effective in treating particular dis-
orders. We also gave examples of research comparing
psychological and drug therapies. An example of a comparative
study involving more than one biological treatment
approach is one that was carried out over several
years at California's Camarillo State Hospital (May
2009). The subjects were 228 schizophrenic patients
who had been admitted to the hospital for the first time.
These men and women had not had extensive clinical
care before they were hospitalized. Clinical psychiatrists
agreed that the patients were about average in terms of
their prospects for recovery. Each patient was assigned
to one of five treatment groups.
After a treatment period of 6 to 12 months, the
patients were categorized on the basis of whether they
were discharged from the hospital because of improvement
or whether they were judged to be unresponsive
to therapy. Before and after treatment each patient was
given a comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluation by
psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers.
Clinical Drug Trials, Placebo and Emotional Intelligence (part 2 next page)
Looking for EI Training or treatment?
If you are ready to schedule a FREE Consultation...
I encourage you to access this website
for the codependency treatment I recommend here:
http://www.TheLiberatorMethod.com/
research procedures. First, extensive preliminary
research is done to study the effects of varying doses of
a drug on laboratory animals. If these tests suggest that
the drug is effective and does not have harmful side effects,
the drug is administered to human beings under
carefully controlled conditions. If these results are also
positive, the drug may be approved for large-scale clinical
trials and scientifically compared with other treatment methods.
If it passes these tests successfully, it may
be approved for use in clinical practice.
Clinical Trials:
Clinical trials involving drugs and
other therapeutic procedures can be complex and costly,
and may extend over many years. They often include
samples of subjects located throughout the country and
even the world. The following are some of the steps in
a clinical trial.
1. Planning the research design and statistical analyses.
2. Deciding on the dependent measures to be used in
evaluating the trial.
3. Organizing procedures for gathering data.
4. Assigning subjects to treatments.
5. Assuring that clinical personnel are "blind" to the
assigned treatment whenever possible.
In the course of conducting clinical trials, scientists
must be careful to rule out alternative explanations
for the results they get. In addition to the enthusiasm
effect discussed earlier, researchers have to be aware of
a placebo often referred to as a "sugar
pill" is an inactive substance that has no pharmacological
effects but under certain conditions may produce
noticeable improvements in patients.
When a placebo is effective, it is because it has
some of the same suggestive properties as a real treatment.
Physicians know that the confidence with which
they prescribe given medicines can influence their patients'
reactions. Suggestible patients often show great
improvement if a drug, even a chemically inactive one,
is presented to them as a "wonder drug."
It might seem sufficient to evaluate the effectiveness
of drugs by comparing placebo groups with groups
that are given chemically potent drugs. Actually, this is
not the case, because the knowledge of which patients
have received active substances and which ones have not
can have a considerable influence on a physicians behavior
or evaluations. Thus he double-blind method is
used to ensure that none of the participants knows
whether the drug given to a particular patient is active
or inert.
Comparative Studies/Emotional Intelligence.
When we reviewed the psychological
therapies we mentioned the need to compare
different approaches in order to identify the ones that
are likely to be most effective in treating particular dis-
orders. We also gave examples of research comparing
psychological and drug therapies. An example of a comparative
study involving more than one biological treatment
approach is one that was carried out over several
years at California's Camarillo State Hospital (May
2009). The subjects were 228 schizophrenic patients
who had been admitted to the hospital for the first time.
These men and women had not had extensive clinical
care before they were hospitalized. Clinical psychiatrists
agreed that the patients were about average in terms of
their prospects for recovery. Each patient was assigned
to one of five treatment groups.
After a treatment period of 6 to 12 months, the
patients were categorized on the basis of whether they
were discharged from the hospital because of improvement
or whether they were judged to be unresponsive
to therapy. Before and after treatment each patient was
given a comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluation by
psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers.
Clinical Drug Trials, Placebo and Emotional Intelligence (part 2 next page)
Looking for EI Training or treatment?
If you are ready to schedule a FREE Consultation...
I encourage you to access this website
for the codependency treatment I recommend here:
http://www.TheLiberatorMethod.com/