Post by Admin on Mar 14, 2024 21:46:44 GMT
Understanding the Risks of Psychotherapy: Study Takes a Closer Look at Adverse Events
A new review of reported adverse events in psychotherapy clinical trials reveals a lack of consistency in assessing harms, making it hard for service users to weigh risks and benefits.
By Javier Rizo -March 13, 2024
www.madinamerica.com/2024/03/understanding-the-risks-of-psychotherapy-study-takes-a-closer-look-at-adverse-events/
While psychotherapy has been consistently established as an effective treatment for improving mental health, psychotherapy researchers have yet to provide a comprehensive picture of its potential risks. This interrupts the informed consent process, as it is difficult to explain the possible benefits and harms of treatment before a patient decides if they want to move forward.
A recent study published in Psychotherapy Research by four German researchers, led by Rahel Klatte, systematically reviewed the reporting of potential harm experienced by participants in psychotherapy clinical trials. This harmful information is known as an adverse event (AE) or serious adverse event (SAE). They discovered that researchers had different ways of reporting negative effects in their studies. These inconsistencies may make it harder for clinicians and patients to decide if therapy is worth it.
The authors provided recommendations for improving and standardizing how psychotherapy researchers think about and record (S)AEs. They also consider research that could allow therapists to understand and manage them more effectively in treatment.
Sometimes, in therapy, patients seem to get worse instead of better. It’s difficult to know if this is because of the treatment or other things happening in patients’ lives. Additionally, a difference is often made between adverse events representing explicit harm (e.g., treatment side effects) and indirect harm (e.g., patients dropping out of treatment before completion). The authors pointed out that:
“Conceptualizations of harms in psychotherapy have also addressed the question of causality or treatment-relatedness by differentiating between negative effects caused by correctly applied treatment and malpractice reactions caused by incorrectly or improperly applied treatment. Furthermore, (serious) adverse events can also occur in parallel to psychotherapy but might not be causally related to the treatment.”
A new review of reported adverse events in psychotherapy clinical trials reveals a lack of consistency in assessing harms, making it hard for service users to weigh risks and benefits.
By Javier Rizo -March 13, 2024
www.madinamerica.com/2024/03/understanding-the-risks-of-psychotherapy-study-takes-a-closer-look-at-adverse-events/
While psychotherapy has been consistently established as an effective treatment for improving mental health, psychotherapy researchers have yet to provide a comprehensive picture of its potential risks. This interrupts the informed consent process, as it is difficult to explain the possible benefits and harms of treatment before a patient decides if they want to move forward.
A recent study published in Psychotherapy Research by four German researchers, led by Rahel Klatte, systematically reviewed the reporting of potential harm experienced by participants in psychotherapy clinical trials. This harmful information is known as an adverse event (AE) or serious adverse event (SAE). They discovered that researchers had different ways of reporting negative effects in their studies. These inconsistencies may make it harder for clinicians and patients to decide if therapy is worth it.
The authors provided recommendations for improving and standardizing how psychotherapy researchers think about and record (S)AEs. They also consider research that could allow therapists to understand and manage them more effectively in treatment.
Sometimes, in therapy, patients seem to get worse instead of better. It’s difficult to know if this is because of the treatment or other things happening in patients’ lives. Additionally, a difference is often made between adverse events representing explicit harm (e.g., treatment side effects) and indirect harm (e.g., patients dropping out of treatment before completion). The authors pointed out that:
“Conceptualizations of harms in psychotherapy have also addressed the question of causality or treatment-relatedness by differentiating between negative effects caused by correctly applied treatment and malpractice reactions caused by incorrectly or improperly applied treatment. Furthermore, (serious) adverse events can also occur in parallel to psychotherapy but might not be causally related to the treatment.”