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Criteria for Evaluating Improvement in Schizophrenia in Psychopharmacological Research (With Special Reference to Gamma Endorphin Fragments)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rahul Manchanda ,
Steven R. Hirsch  and
Thomas R. E. Barnes
Rahul Manchanda
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario, St Thomas Psychiatric Hospital, Ontario, Canada
Steven R. Hirsch*
Affiliation:
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School
Thomas R. E. Barnes
Affiliation:
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School
*
∗Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8RF
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Abstract

A review of treatment trials with DTγE revealed widely discrepant results. Relevant variables were the variety of measures employed for monitoring psychotic symptoms, and the different criteria used to judge the degree of improvement. The authors suggest a uniform outcome criterion for early trials of new treatments, which would generate more consistent and comparable results between studies, and give a stronger indication of the value of the treatment under test. When the data from the various treatment trials of DTγE were re analysed, applying a uniform outcome criterion of improvement of a change of 80% or more on rating-scale score, the results were more consistent than would have been suspected from the original reports.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 153 , Issue 3 , September 1988 , pp. 354 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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