Field trials for diagnostic criteria for mental disorders are tested on samples of people chosen by researchers, generating better results than in real psychiatric settings
Another problem with how psychiatrists must run field trials for each new set of diagnostic criteria to prevent unpleasant surprises is with generalizability. The best setting for doing field trials would be the offices of the clinical psychiatrists and of the primary care physicians who actually write most of the prescriptions for psychiatric drugs. But because it is easier, field-testing is instead done in samples of convenience drawn from university research clinics that are very unlike the sites of eventual greatest misuse. The results generated in these cloistered settings will always be much better than what will be obtained in the hustle and bustle of the real world.
References
- Frances, Allen. (2013). Saving Normal CHAPTER 1. What’s Normal and What’s Not? (p. 48). New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Psychiatry Status:☀️