Download - Thinking hats:
Thinking hats:What are the key
assumptions of each approach?
What are the benefits of each approach?
What are the weaknesses of each approach?
This is basically what you did for your exit task, last lesson so we
will skip it.
What applications, in terms of therapy, could each approach
have?
Management role: walk round and chat to people (about
their Q!)
7 mins
Biological Therapies
Biological therapies generally include the administering of medication.
This is controversial.Why do you think that is?
Drugs are the most common form of biological therapy and are often the first thing administered to patients
The assumption is that there is an underlying biological cause for abnormal behaviour
This could be due to brain structure, genetics or hormones
What might the positive side of this be?Rapid treatment, quick and cheap to administer, can
put the patient in a better position to respond to therapy
What might be the negative?Medicalising emotions, ‘quick fix’, doesn’t tackle the
cause (masks the problem), don’t work for everyone, side effects.
Phenelzine
Actually a form of antidepressantMOAI – monoamine oxidase inhibitorBased on the theory that depression is caused by
a deficit of neurotransmitters called monoaminesPrevents the breakdown of monoamines
therefore increasing their availabilityHas quite a few side effects, generally used
when other medicines have not been effectiveThere is now a new generation of MOAIs with
fewer side effects
Leibowitz (1988): Treatment of Social Phobia with Phenelzine
Potential pitfalls?
Biological treatment Key study: Leibowitz (1988)
AimTo see if the drug phenelzine can help treat
patients with social phobia.To see if phenelzine is more effective than a
placebo and atenolol in treating social phobia.
Why use a placebo group?
Method
A controlled experiment where patients were allocated to one of three conditions, and treated over 8 weeks. They were assessed for social phobia on several tests such as:
The Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety
Leibowitz Social Phobia Scale. This had common manifestations of social phobia and patients rated 1-4 for the fear produced and 1-4 for the steps taken to avoid the phobic situation.
Participants
80 patients meeting DSM criteria for social phobia aged 18–50 years. They were medically healthy and had not received phenelzine for at least two weeks before the trial. Each was assessed to see that there were no other disorders. Each signed a consent form before the research.
Design
An independent design with patients being allocated randomly to one of four groups:
one group was treated with phenelzine one group was given a matching placeboa second treatment group was given atenololanother group was given a matching placebo.
Procedure
Patients were assessed at the beginning, and then given their drug or placebo, with gradual increases in dosage of phenelzine or atenolol in the treatment groups.
Each patient was then reassessed.Independent evaluators were used to carry
out clinical assessments in a double blind situation.
Findings
After eight weeks significant differences were noted for the phenelzine groups, with better scores on the tests for anxiety compared to the placebo groups.
There was no significant difference between the patients taking atenolol and those taking a placebo.
ConclusionsPhenelzine but not atenolol is effective in
treating social phobia after eight weeks of treatment.
Plenary
On your pass: Outline 2 advantages to drug therapy2 disadvantages
Extension: Suggest a solution
Activity:
Evaluate the Leibowitz study
Pair 1 Sample, generalisability, ethicsPair 2- reliability, methodology Pair 3 – usefulness, validityPair 4 – nature/nurture, reductionism/holism,
12 mins
Evaluation of Liebowitz
MethodControls – inc. placebo group and 2
comparison groupsControlled IV – could measure cause and
effectScale used – quantitative data – comparable Issues with this: could be misinterpreted, may
still be subjective i.e. what constitutes a ‘5’ on the scale? – validity and reliability
Design
Independent designNecessary in order to establish cause and
effect in this caseRandom allocation – no bias in sample,
everyone had an equal chance of being allocated to each group
SampleWide age range – generalisable across age
rangesMedically healthy and had not had phenelzine
for 2 weeks before – control of possible confounding variables
Data collection
Likert scale – 1 to 5 rating systemUsed a scale that is commonly used in
psychiatryUsed to different scales – one psychiatrists
report and the other self-report (validity)Independent evaluators, double blind – no
experimenter bias
ReliabilityStandardised procedure – easily replicableGood controls – clear IV (i.e. which group they
were placed in) so effect on DV could be measured
Validity
Independent evaluators – double-blind, did not know what the study was about so could not be responding to demand characteristics
Participants were going about their daily lives – it was longitudinal so presumably the results are ecologically valid
Two different types of scale LSPS (self-report, patients subejctive experience) plus assessed with Hamilton Rating Scale. If the results are in agreement, it suggests they are both measuring what they are supposed to measure.
Bias
Could be some bias in interpreting the rating scales, particularly initially
However, the patients were independently evaluated in a double-blind procedure and therefore they could not be subject to demand characteristics
The above were not the researchers so no experimenter bias
Ethics
Consent givenOne group given a placebo – is this ethical?
They may not receive the benefits of the treatment
Wider benefits for society if an effective treatment for social phobia is evidenced
Reductionist
it is, it assumes that social phobia can be treated with drugs alone and does not take into account the reasons behind the social phobiaHowever, patients who took phenelzine showed greater improvement, so in some ways this is actually a strength as it led to improved recovery.
Determinist
Determinist – it takes control out of the hands of the patient and places it with the psychiatrist and medical staff
Ethnocentric
Ethnocentric
N vs N Nature Vs Nurture – supports the role of biological factors in social anxiety. Doesn’t take into account the environmental triggers.
Homework
McGrath (1990)Successful Treatment of a Noise Phobia
Research the aims, procedure, findings and conclusions Evaluate and add notes to your booklet.
Extension: find additional research to support the study
For next the lesson.