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8 - Complex interventions

from Part II - Summary of treatment modalities in psychiatric disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2010

By
Peter Tyrer  and
Karen Milner
Edited by
Peter Tyrer  and
Kenneth R. Silk
Peter Tyrer
Affiliation:
Imperial College London Claybrook Centre Charing Cross Campus London UK
Karen Milner
Affiliation:
University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USA
Peter Tyrer
Affiliation:
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London
Kenneth R. Silk
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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Summary

Editor's note

We have included a chapter on complex interventions in this section because we feel it is necessary to introduce the subject before the fuller accounts in Part III of this book. Evidence is often difficult to obtain in psychiatry, not just because the collection of data involves harder work than in many other subjects but also because so many of our interventions are complex ones, and the interpretation of data from them so much more difficult than those of simple interventions. We hope it helps making interpretations here a little more cautious. There is also an important element of effectiveness included in this chapter; the evaluation of different types of service delivery in psychiatry, and these too usually represent very complex interventions.

Introduction

A complex intervention is easily understood at one level. According to Samuel Johnson, the originator of the first Dictionary of English, a complex intervention is ‘an agency between antecedents and consecutives including many particulars’, and this is as good a definition as any. In the evaluation of treatment, complex interventions are the most difficult one has to undertake. Let me give one example to make it clear that we are not exaggerating. We do not yet have good evidence of the effectiveness of a treatment that has been with us for over 60 years, collectively called ‘therapeutic communities’.

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Cambridge Textbook of Effective Treatments in Psychiatry , pp. 157 - 170
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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  • Complex interventions
    • By Peter Tyrer, Imperial College London Claybrook Centre Charing Cross Campus London UK, Karen Milner, University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USA
  • Edited by Peter Tyrer, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, Kenneth R. Silk, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Book: Cambridge Textbook of Effective Treatments in Psychiatry
  • Online publication: 12 May 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511544392.010
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  • Complex interventions
    • By Peter Tyrer, Imperial College London Claybrook Centre Charing Cross Campus London UK, Karen Milner, University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USA
  • Edited by Peter Tyrer, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, Kenneth R. Silk, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Book: Cambridge Textbook of Effective Treatments in Psychiatry
  • Online publication: 12 May 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511544392.010
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  • Complex interventions
    • By Peter Tyrer, Imperial College London Claybrook Centre Charing Cross Campus London UK, Karen Milner, University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USA
  • Edited by Peter Tyrer, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, Kenneth R. Silk, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Book: Cambridge Textbook of Effective Treatments in Psychiatry
  • Online publication: 12 May 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511544392.010
Available formats
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