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Closing the gap between research and practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

John R. Geddes*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford
Paul J. Harrison
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford
*
Dr J. Geddes, University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX. Fax: 01865 793101; e-mail: john.geddes@psychiatry.oxford.ac.uk

Extract

Has Mrs A got schizophrenia? Would Mr B do better with a tricyclic or a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor? Is Miss C likely to be recovered in six months time? Is St John's wort an effective antidepressant? Clinical psychiatry involves making difficult decisions about diagnosis, therapy and prognosis. Sometimes we may be entirely confident about our decisions, but often we are uncomfortably aware that we are making a choice without being sure there is convincing evidence to justify it. Maybe we don't know or have forgotten what the evidence is, or perhaps there isn't any.

Type
Evidence-Based Psychiatry
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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Footnotes

See commentaries, pp. 226–227.

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