A02 biological therapies (drug treatments) Flashcards
What are the sections for strength
Effectiveness
Ease of use
Who tested effectiveness
WHO
What did WHO do and find
Relapse rates after one year were highest when schizos were treated with placebos (55%)
25% when treated with anti psychotics
2-23% when treated with anti psychotics and family intervened
Conclusion for effectiveness
The anti psychotics drugs are an effective means of treating certain mental disorder and work best when combined with psychological treatment
Talk about ease of use
Requires little time and effort from the user compared to psychoanalysis ct etc
What are the sections for the limitation of the drug treatments
Placebo effect
Tackles symptoms rather than the problem
Side effects
Who tested placebo effects
Kirsch et al
Mulrow et al
What did kirsch et al do and find
Metanalysis on effectiveness of placebo compared to effectiveness of real drug
Found placebo to be almost the same effectiveness as real dryg
What did Mulrow et al do and find
Metanalysis on effectiveness of placebo compared to effectiveness of real drug
Found a success rate of 35% for placebos and 60% for real drug
Conclusion for placebo effects
The effectiveness of drugs may be due to their psychological effects as well as their chemical effect
Talk about tackles symptoms rather than problem
Only deals with symptoms doesn’t address the problem itself
Offers temporary alleviation of symptoms
Once patient stops taking them the effectiveness ceases
Talk about side effects
For instance
SSRIs may cause anxiety, sexual dysfunction, insomnia, nausea, suicidal thoughts
Problems with the side effects is one if the main reasons why chemotherapy fails - patients cannot tolerate the side effects and therefore don’t take thir medication
