Jonathan Chick
Edinburgh Napier University, UK
Title: Diagnostic definitions affect evaluations of alcohol problems treatment and their extrapolation to clinical practice
Biography
Biography: Jonathan Chick
Abstract
One objective of a diagnostic system is to provide precision of diagnosis for use when selecting appropriate treatments. Correspondingly precision in diagnosis is essential for devising clinical trials, whether these be medications or psychological therapies. The increasing associated use of other addictive substances along with alcohol plus co-existing mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders and trauma-related illness add to the need for precision of diagnosis when potential treatments are being tested, and the results extrapolated to clinical practice. This presentation will examine current practice in diagnostic assessment in clinical trials on alcohol use disorders, and will explore how the different diagnostic entities in DSM 5 and draft ICD 11 might affect diagnostic precision and case selection in clinical trials. Negative trials of treatments previously found to be effective serve to illustrate this, and examples will be described.