کارآزمایی های بالینی در روان داروشناسی: مغز بهتر ۲۰۱۰
Clinical Trials in Psychopharmacology: A Better Brain 2010

Although clinical trials were virtually unheard of in psychiatryfor many years, they are now the gold standard for judging whetherdrugs are safe and useful. But should they be? What is the truestatus of clinical trials? Even when they ostensibly demonstrate abenefit of a certain treatment, the strict patient selectioncriteria, poor compliance and high drop-out rate leave theconclusions open to question. Are the new treatments really betteror more cost-effective than the old? Do they have fewer sideeffects?

In this book the authors take a critical look at recentdevelopments and present a series of trenchant and challengingobservations. Section I examines the significant changes in law andthe regulatory environment that have occurred during the past tenyears. Has fossilization handicapped the US Food and DrugAdministration in promoting treatment advances? How can theplethora of findings be regulated? This is particularly pertinentin genomic studies and there are two chapters addressing the impactof genomics on psychiatric research. This section also addressesthe role of women in drug trials – a group long excluded butnow demanding a part, for without testing how can optimaltreatments be devised?

The next two Sections highlight clinical trials in the majorareas of psychiatric pharmacological treatment, including MoodDisorders, especially Bipolar, Anxiety Disorders, and addictions.Chapters on pharmacological treatments for Eating Disorders,Attention Deficit Disorder, Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome,and Impulse Control Disorder represent the latest thinking on thesesubjects.

The final Section contains a consummate example of out-of-the[Western]- box thinking, namely consideration of herbal medicines– used by a large number of patients, with or without medicalsupervision. We conclude with a close look at the problem of sideeffects, then selected thoughts about methodology.

Clearly written, the text provides immediate access to newdevelopments across the spectrum of drug testing. ClinicalTrials in Psychopharmacology: A Better Brain isprovocative reading for psychiatrists, pharmacologists and allthose interested in improved drug treatments for patients withmental illness.

• Raises questions about the conduct of trials and thecredibility of their outcomes that are relevant not just inpsychiatry but all areas of medicine

• Discusses the ethical problems in assessing outcomes in humans,including children