Effective
Type: Strength
Study: Soomro et al. (2008)
- Found drugs were more effective than placebos in reducing symptoms
- However most studies in the meta-analysis only lasted for three months
- Means little is known about long-term effectiveness
Preferred over other treatments
Type: Strength
- Requires little input or effort from the user
- For example, psychological therapies are time consuming
- They also require the person to attempt regular meetings and think about tackling their problem
- This means that drug therapies are more economical for the patient and health service
Side effects
Type: Limitation
- SSRIs cause nausea, headaches, and insomnia
- Tricyclics cause hallucinations and an irregular heart beat
- These can lead to the patient stopping taking drugs
- Therefore side-effects and possibility of addition limit the usefulness of drugs as treatments for OCD
Not a lasting cure
Info
Todo.
Publication bias
Type: Limitation
- Effectiveness of drugs may be exaggerated by a publication bias towards studies showing drugs have a positive effect
- For example, Turner et al. found that studies showing positive results were more likely to be published in journals
- Drug companies have a strong interest in the continuing success of drugs, and fund much of the research into their effectiveness
- Selective publication of research, therefore, may lead to doctors to make inappropriate treatment decisions about treating OCD because all of the research appears to support the effectiveness of drug treatments