Does EBM apply to psychiatry simpliciter

GUPTA, M; MATUSEVICH D; WIKINSKI S; BERRIOS G

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 15th World Congress of Psychiatry; 2011

World Psychiatric Association

DOES EBM APPLY TO PSYCHIATRY SIMPLICITER? Berrios GE1, Gupta M2, Matusevich D3, Wikinski S4 1 Robinson College, University of Cambridge, UK, 2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada, 3 Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina, 4 Proyecto Suma, Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas (CONICET), Argentina Over the last twenty years, evidence-based medicine (EBM) has come to dominate medical practice and health policy but its indiscriminate application has generated an important debate as to its methodological, epistemological, and ethical foundations. In this workshop, the application of EBM to psychiatry will be examined giving particular attention to these three contested areas. Firstly, the question will be explored of whether psychiatric theory and practice can countenance, without drastic adaptation, the general methodology of EBM. Secondly, the epistemological consequences of applying meta-analysis and randomized controlled trials (RCT) to psychiatric data will be identified; and the question asked of whether, given the sui generis nature of psychiatric disorders and treatments, RCTs help or hinder knowledge. Finally, the ethical issues emerging from the application of EBM to psychiatry will be studied. This workshop will conclude with a discussion amongst presenters and participants about how or if EBM can be usefully applied to psychiatry. Presenting author Professor German E. Berrios Emeritus Chair of the Epistemology of Psychiatry Life Fellow, Robinson College University of Cambridge, UK Robinson College Grange Road, CB3 9AN, UK