Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T10:03:34.364Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Defence of the Randomized Controlled Trial in Mental Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2007

Simon Wessely
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK E-mail: S.Wessely@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Get access

Abstract

Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © London School of Economics and Political Science 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anon. (1990). Flawed study’s mixed effects. In Hospital Doctor, 18 October.Google Scholar
Antman, E., Lau, J., Kupelnick, B., Mosteller, F., & Chalmers, T. (1992). A comparison of results of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials and the recommendations of clinical experts. Journal of the American Medical Association, 268, 240248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrowclough, C., Haddock, G., Tarrier, N., Lewis, S.W., Moring, J., O’Brien, R. et al. (2001). Randomized controlled trial of motivational interviewing, cognitive behavior therapy, and family intervention for patients with comorbid schizophrenia and substance use disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 17061713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byar, D. (1978). Sound advice for conducting clinical trials. New England Journal of Medicine, 297, 553554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chalmers, I. (2001). Comparing like with like: Some historical milestones in the evolution of methods to create unbiased comparison groups in therapeutic experiments. International Journal of Epidemiology, 30, 11561164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chalmers, T., Matta, R., Smith, H., & Kunzler, A. (1977). Evidence favouring the use of antidepressants in the hospital phase of acute myocardial infarction. New England Journal of Medicine, 297, 10911096.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chalmers, T., Celano, P., Sacks, H., & Smith, H. (1983). Bias in treatment assignment in controlled clinical trials. New England Journal of Medicine, 309, 13581361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collins, R., Peto, R., Gray, R., & Parish, S. (1996). Large-scale randomized evidence: trials and overviews. In Weatherall, D.Ledingham, J. & Warrell, D. (Eds), Oxford Textbook of Medicine, 21–32. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dehue, T. (2002). A Dutch treat: Randomized controlled experimentation and the case of heroin maintenance in the Netherlands. History of the Human Sciences, 15, 7598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doll, R. (1998). Controlled trials: The 1948 watershed. British Medical Journal, 317, 12171220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Emmerik, A., Kamphuis, J., Hulsbosch, A., & Emmelkamp, P. (2002). Single session debriefing after psychological trauma: A meta-analysis. The Lancet, 360, 741742.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilbody, S., Wahlbeck, K., & Adams, C. (2002). Randomized controlled trials in schizophrenia: A critical perspective on the literature. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 105, 243251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gist, R. (2002). What have they done to my song? Social science, social movements and the debriefing debates. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 9, 273279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, A. (2006). The many meanings of the placebo effect:Where they came from, why they matter. BioSciences, 1, 181193.Google Scholar
Healy, D. (1997). The antidepressant era. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Horton, R. (2001). The clinical trial: Deceitful, disputable, unbelievable, unhelpful, and shameful—what next? Controlled Clinical Trials, 22, 593604.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hotopf, M., Lewis, G., & Normand, C. (1997). Putting trials on trial—the costs and consequences of small trials in depression: A systematic review of methodology. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 51, 354358.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hrobjartsson, A., & Gotzsche, P. (2001). Is the placebo powerless? An analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment. New England Journal of Medicine, 344, 15941602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaptchuk, T. (1998). Intentional ignorance: A history of blind assessment and placebo controls in medicine. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 72, 389433.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kleijnen, J., Gotzsche, P., Kunz, R., Oxman, A., & Chalmers, I. (1997). So what’s so special about randomisation. In Maynard, A., & Chalmers, I. (Eds), Non-random reflections on health services research: On the 25th anniversary of Archie Cochrane’s Effectiveness and Efficiency, 93–106. London: BMJ Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Kunz, R., & Oxman, A. (1998). The unpredictability paradox: review of empirical comparisons of randomised and non-randomised clinical trials. British Medical Journal, 317, 11851190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKee, M., Britton, A., Black, N., McPherson, K., Sanderson, C., & Bain, C. (1999). Interpreting the evidence: Choosing between randomised and non-randomised studies. British Medical Journal, 319, 312315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MRC (Medical Research Council) (1965). Clinical trial of the treatment of depressive illness. British Medical Journal, i, 881886.Google Scholar
Persons, J., & Silberschatz, G. (1998). Are results of randomized controlled trials useful to psychotherapists? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 126135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothwell, P. (1995). Can overall results of clinical trials be applied to all patients? The Lancet, 345, 16161619.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sacks, H., Chalmers, T., & Smith, H. (1982). Randomized versus historical controls for clinical trials. American Journal of Medicine, 72, 233240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sacks, H., Berrier, J., Reitman, D., Ancona-Berk, V., & Chalmers, T. (1987). Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. New England Journal of Medicine, 316, 450455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schultz, K., & Grimes, D. (2002). Allocation concealment in randomised trials: Defending against deciphering. The Lancet, 359, 614618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schultz, K., Chalmers, I., Grimes, D., & Altman, D. (1994). Assessing the quality of randomization from reports of controlled trials published in obstetrics and gynaecology journals. Journal of the American Medical Association, 272, 125128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schultz, K., Chalmers, I., Hayes, R., & Altman, D. (1995). Empirical evidence of bias: Dimensions of methodological quality associated with estimates of treatments effects in controlled trials. Journal of the American Medical Association, 273, 408412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelton, R.C., Keller, M., Gelenberg, A., Dunner, D.L., Hirschfeld, R., Thase, M.E. et al. (2001). Effectiveness of St John’s wort in major depression—A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 19781986.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sibbald, B., & Roland, M. (1998). Why are randomised controlled trials important? British Medical Journal, 316, 201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swartz, M.S., Swanson, J., Hiday, V.A., Wagner, H.R., Burns, B.J., & Borum, R. (2001). A randomized controlled trial of outpatient commitment in North Carolina. Psychiatric Services, 52, 325329.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thornley, B., & Adams, C. (1998). Content and quality of 2000 controlled trials in schizophrenia over 50 years. British Medical Journal, 317, 11811184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wessely, S. (2001). Randomised controlled trials: The gold standard? In Mace, C.Moorey, S. & Roberts, B. (Eds), Evidence in the balance, 46–60. Hove: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wessely, S., Bisson, J., & Rose, S. (2000). A systematic review of brief psychological interventions (‘debriefing’) for the treatment of immediate trauma-related symptoms and the prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder. In Oakley-Browne, M.Churchill, R.Gill, D.Trivedi, M. & Wessely, S. (Eds), Depression, anxiety and neurosis: Module of the Cochrane database of systematic reviews. Oxford: Update Software.Google Scholar
White, P. (Ed.) (2005). Biopsychosocial medicine: An integrated approach to understanding illness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar