Posted by Larry Hoover on June 1, 2003, at 22:27:38
In reply to Does Med Education Correlate With tx Resistence?, posted by MB on June 1, 2003, at 18:57:07
> So, I'm wondering if there is a correlation between education about psychopharmacology and treatment resistence. And if there is a correlation, is it causative? And if the correlation is causative, which comes first, the treatment resistence or the education.I snipped to this paragraph, as I think all else flows from the answers to these questions.
You're quite correct to wonder at the significance of correlations based on your own experience, and the observations of others. However, any leap to causation is probably without foundation.
There is a possibility the reading the extensive listings of possible side effects in the drug monograph or PDR might induce some level of suggestibility. But the incidence rates of most side effects are small, and even among the more common ones, you're not going to get them all. Side effects, as a generality, are more the rule than the exception.
Moreover, I think it unlikely that an attitude of doubt about the true efficacy of meds could do much to block their physiological effects, if there are to be any. It could, however, reduce the likelihood of placebo-type responsiveness. Perhaps that sense of doubt increases with each treatment failure. But that's the human element, something I wouldn't necessarily associate with familiarity with the PDR or measures of intelligence.
I wonder if you've considered the logical fallacy "post hoc, ergo propter hoc", i.e. after this, therefore because of this. I think this form of (il)logic may well be hard-wired into our brains. We see one significant or salient thing happen, and then following that, another significant or salient event. We know they are linked by the flow of time, a temporal sequence. It seems to be inferred that the earlier event may be causative of the latter one, even without a logical or rational link between them.
Your refer to trying SSRI meds on different occasions, but noticing similar effects. Could that be because they are similar meds, rather than because you read up on their psychopharmacology?
Methinks you may thinks too much about this.
Respectfully,
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:230644
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030530/msgs/230685.html