Treatment E-Journal is Reborn
6/20/98

It was a revolutionary idea.  The American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association were jointly sponsoring a new peer-reviewed, rapid publication electronic journal.  It was called Treatment and it focused on the effectiveness of various treatments for mental disorders. The first issue made it clear that both psychotherapy and psychopharmacology would be featured.   The journal would have a quick turn-around time. The freshest research would always be a click away. 

Then the psychiatrists pulled-out.  The reasons are not entirely clear, but it seems that several powerful psychiatrists believed that the project placed psychologists on an equal footing with psychiatrists.  They feared that this would be used to support psychologists' efforts to obtain prescribing privileges.  This project has nothing to do with prescribing privileges.

The journal was re-born this month as Prevention and Treatment.  Martin Seligman's Editorial in the new issue provides more background on the founding of the Journal and the psychiatrists' abandonment of the project.  Seligman states:

The American Psychiatric Association's decision to end their participation in the journal Treatment is shameful.  Collaboration among scientists, the rapid dissemination of knowledge of immediate benefit to patients, and the open exchange of ideas among scientists and practitioners—be they psychiatrists or psychologists—are high ideals. This is how progress in the treatment of mental illness can best occur. These ideals should not be sacrificed to political ambition or to squabbles between guilds about the scope of practice. The act of the American Psychiatric Association's Trustees undermined 2 years of dedicated work by the authors, publishing boards, and editors from both organizations. It is a giant step backward from the improving relationship between the two largest mental health associations in the United States.  (Seligman, 1998)

The lead article in the original journal, entitled Control Groups in Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy Evaluations, was written by psychiatrist Donald Klein.  It is still available in the new journal.  Klein also participates in the first issue of the new journal with a commentary on the lead article. 

The new journal begins with a controversial study entitled Listening to Prozac but Hearing Placebo: A Meta-Analysis of Antidepressant Medication by Irving Kirsch, Ph.D. and Guy Sapirstein, Ph.D. They use statistical techniques to analyze some of the best studies of antidepressant medications.  They found that 75% of the effect of antidepressants is due to the placebo effect.  They also found that the remaining 25% was due to administering any active drug, even a drug which is not an antidepressant.

Four commentaries on the study follow, three of which are critical of various  aspects of the study.  Donald Klein, M.D. writes the strongest critique, entitled Listening to Meta-Analysis but Hearing Bias.  He faults the authors primarily for choosing studies which did not truly represent the field. 

This edition of the journal is a good start.  APA members can earn a free CEU unit for scoring 100 on an 18 item test.  Others can do the same for $30..  The journal's content will be open to all for a limited period of time.  

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