OCD Action

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I have mentioned, previously, how I was puzzled that drug studies at Yale, for OCD sufferers, are combined with CBT. I didn’t see how an accurate trial could be conducted when people might be responding to therapy at the same time. The reply I received, from a psychiatrist in charge, was that the study was not compromised because CBT is not a variable, i.e. everyone on the study receives it. I replied that any therapy is, by definition, a variable, because people respond so differently. I was, understandably, ignored!

A few years later, I was informed by a psychologist at the Maudsley, that I would be unable to begin inpatient therapy at the Bethlem unit, if I had recently started new medication. The reason for this made perfect sense, although the unit is a treatment and not a research centre, response to therapy is carefully monitored and an element of research is being conducted at the same time. A new medication would cloud the picture.

Yesterday, I was reading Lee Baer’s ‘Imp of the Mind’. He was discussing a priest who was about to begin a drug study. The priest asked for advice over therapy and Lee Baer explained he couldn’t help him at that time. He wrote in his book:

“The difficulty for me, I told him, was that because of the rules of the study, I was not allowed to give anyone instructions about using behaviour therapy for their symptoms (since behaviour therapy is a highly effective treatment for obsessions and compulsions and could invalidate the results of the drug trial).”

Yale is a prestigious university, it has such eminent psychiatrists working there. How can they be making this glaring error?!

Wed Aug 4 2010 13:39:12 #
Unregistered

*jawdrop*

I dunno what to say... Honest to God... YOU WILL respond differently if you are given therapy as well as medication. Bloomin' idiots!

Wed Aug 4 2010 21:58:56 #
mama
Member

It seems to me that they could be testing for something different. Perhaps they are testing to see if CBT has varying results with meds or placebo...perhaps they are trying to see if CBT and medication still proves to be the best therapy...it really depends on what you are looking at with these trials. The scientific method has to be done precisely on these studies so they dont mess up the variable they are examining. The one you quote from Lee Bear was testing meds ALONE. I would search deeper into what they are actually testing. Yale scientists are not stupid...they are likely after something in particular.

Thu Aug 5 2010 1:40:03 #
Unregistered

Andrea, I would not have made the statements I did without being sure of my facts. You would be surprised by how 'stupid' people can be despite having many letters after their names! A few years ago, a group of top British scientists revealed (after extensive research) that a goldfish has a memory of a minute. Anyone who keeps pet fish will know they are aware when it’s feeding time and will go to the end of their tank where the food is placed (most people feed fish once daily). Even with my ignorant and uneducated brain, this indicated at least a 24 hour memory. Later studies have since revealed a flaw in the first trial. The studies cost thousands I would imagine!!

However, scientists compromising a human drug study and making ridiculous statements concerning a fish's intellect are trivial compared with the risks to patients’ health.

It is deeply disturbing that patients leave the Yale studies with no backup, in some instances they are left taking off label medication for life. GPs are alarmed by this, as they have no knowledge of the side effects of many of these drugs when treating conditions they were not licensed for, especially when in combination with other medication. A friend of mine is on a very high dose of one off label medication, she has now been prescribed another off label drug on top of that (she has recently completed a second drug trial at Yale). The trial was purely a drug study. My friend responded to CBT while at Yale. How can any scientist now categorically state whether the medication helped at all?

My friend is now ill and her GP is at a loss to know what to do. A thyroid medication, also prescribed at Yale (her thyroid function was normal) was withdrawn by her shocked GP.

Thu Aug 5 2010 12:50:23 #
Unregistered

You would be surprised by how 'stupid' people can be despite having many letters after their names!

*applause* That is quote of the year!!

Thu Aug 5 2010 21:16:40 #
Unregistered

Jess, you do cheer this place up!

Fri Aug 6 2010 12:04:50 #
Unregistered

P.S. Andrea, I also think the psychiatrist I spoke to would have corrected me and explained the trial was a CBT/drug study, if that were the case.

I was offered a place at Yale, and did extensive research before turning it down.

Am I improving in the testosterone development area, do you think?! I’ve been trying to follow your advice.

Fri Aug 6 2010 12:24:17 #
Unregistered

Jess, you do cheer this place up!

Aww, thanks. *glows*

Fri Aug 6 2010 21:18:25 #