Comments on: Is the Research Any Good?

By: Articles About Everything » The Cymbalta Schatz-Storm: Duplicate Publication and Lying by Omission

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:47:51 +0000

[...] Better Than “Weak” SSRIs (Not Really): In the JPR study, it was mentioned that the evidence for SSRIs in treating pain is “weak.” No disagreement on my end. But see, once SSRI patients switched to Cymbalta, their pain magically went away because Cymbalta, unlike SSRIs, relieves pain. Never mind the lack of control group, which was allotted a grand total of 15 words in the discussion as a potential limitation of the study. The authors also failed to note that prior research showed that Cymbalta was no better than Paxil in treating pain in depressed patients. And Perahia, the lead author of the JCP and JPR “studies” is certainly aware of the research showing that Cymbalta works no better than a “weak” SSRI, since he was the lead author on one such study! So he is quite aware that Cymbalta has never been shown superior to Paxil in treating pain, yet he accurately describes research indicating that SSRIs are “weak” pain treatments, but then neglects to mention that Cymbalta failed to demonstrate superiority to Paxil in treating pain in depression. This is called lying by omission. [...]

By: Articles About Everything » Gabitril Goes Down

Articles About Everything » Gabitril Goes Down — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:47:15 +0000

[...] Gabitril was also allegedly marketed as a treatment for pain. I was unable to locate a single controlled study examining the efficacy of Gabitril for pain, though there were a small number of uncontrolled (i.e., not very useful) studies suggesting that maybe Gabitril could be used to treat pain. Regarding sleep, the placebo-controlled trials I located did not suggest that the drug was particularly effective (1, 2). So we’re looking at a drug with essentially no controlled evidence of efficacy being pushed for pain, sleep, and anxiety. Well-done, Cephalon. [...]

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:39:02 +0000

I find that good research will have an end result in the workability of what was being discovered. That simply means, that a common denominator can be derived from all of the results which will help one to evaluate all other data in reference to it. If it doesn’t do that, then in my eyes the research is incomplete. This is probably why medicine is more profit driven than anything else.

By: Robert Kamper

Robert Kamper — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:47:53 +0000

Good post and good comments. I’ve taken science reporting to task from time to time for some of the same reasons noted above. One of my favorite gotchas wasn’t listed above, though: How well were the variables defined in the first place? Are you studying what you think you’re studying? I’ve seen research reports that defined “spirituality” as church attendance, but the operational differences between the different groups studied were membership in a caring community and regular social and physical contact (hugs & handshakes) versus living alone without being a member of a social group that met weekly, looked after each other, etc. I’m not sure the researchers were observing the effects of spirituality so much as the effects of being a member of a warm human community.

By: Jaya

Jaya — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:26:59 +0000

As a clinician, I appreciate any effort to educate consumers of mental health services regarding the “product”. However, the reality of the situation is that most people – including clinicians (especially those in private practice) – do not have access to the peer-reviewed literature. The guess is that it takes about seven years for the science to actually reach the public and, even then, it is truncated into the small sound/print bites that the media favors so much — often incorrectly or only presented partially.

By: John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:00:38 +0000

I’ll just add that the article is indeed geared toward research that is likely to make mainstream news in psychology and mental health. So while a new perception or beliefs experiment might be intellectually interesting (and there are dozens published every year), they are not likely to make the news headlines. Obviously a short “crib sheet” for consumers isn’t going to cover all possible experimental and research permutations.

By: Samuel Lopez De Victoria

Samuel Lopez De Victoria — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:01:30 +0000

Ryan,

With all due respect I’m sure you are good at some aspects of research. As a Ph.D. myself, I find that even Ph.D.’s are not all experts in the many forms of research. Some are very good at quantitative but less competent at qualitative work and vice-versa. I’ve even sensed Ph.D. academicians putting down qualitative research used in doctoral dissertations. In my opinion, it is almost impossible to be very good at all or most of the methodologies. This can be seen in many Ph.D.’s hiring statisticians to do their dirty work of inferential stats processing and analysis.

I’m sure you realize that on this kind of forum you cannot even begin to scratch the surface of what research is because you are so limited to a few paragraphs. The world of research methodology is vast and voluminous, so much so that there are even whole journals dedicated to the study of studying (or doing research).

I get a chuckle or a smirk when I see Ph.D.’s either strongly or gently putting down the Psy.D. guys. I think that is quite unfortunate. I’ve seen Psy.D. dissertations that are as good as Ph.D. ones. The reality is that academia is negatively biased against Psy.D.’s and relegates them to second class academicians. This is vastly evident by the many graduate academic departments that tend to use Psy.D.’s only in clinical supervision courses. These institutions give most or all the regular courses to the Ph.D.’s. I know Psy.D.’s that run circles around Ph.D.’s including me.

Unless I misunderstood you, I sense a little bit of a put-down tone to your Psy.D. brethren. I don’t find that kind of attitude towards Ph.D.’s coming from Psy.D’s. Please correct me if I am wrong. I welcome it.

Best regards,

Samuel Lopez De Victoria, Ph.D.
http://www.DrSam.tv

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 04:29:02 +0000

Good start, but a bit misleading. My first hesitancy was that Dr. Grohol has a Psy.D, not a research oriented Ph.D. Psy.D.s are clinical by nature, although there are many good Psy.D. researchers. As a Ph.D. who works with Ph.D. graduate students, I’m aware that there are many types of research that are valuable in many different ways. This article is specifically geared toward clinical psychology and clinical trials research. Within that context, then I say great start. In the broader research arena, I would love to see acknowledgment of the many types of quantitative, mixed methods, and qualitative research methods.

By: Felicity Pickup

Felicity Pickup — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:44:23 +0000

Great input! I’ve saved a copy as an aide-memoire for teaching undergrads in library research sessions(how to look at abstracts).

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:40:20 +0000

This is especially important during these days of the internet, where studies are blasted out and spread like wildfire. Who’s vetting this stuff? Journalists are only too happy to pass it along to their readers.