WEBVTT

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When you're looking for medical or mental health

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treatment, there are lots of choices...

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and lots of claims about what works.

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There's advice from friends and family,

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news headlines, and the internet.

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The truth is, not all treatments work equally well.

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So how do you know what's best?

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"Evidence-based" treatments give you

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the best chance for recovery.

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There are different perspectives on exactly what it takes

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for a treatment to be considered evidence-based.

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In general, the scientific community looks at three things:

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the number of research studies, the quality of those studies,

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and whether experts agree the treatment works.

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Let's learn more.

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Evidence-based treatments have been tested

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in multiple research studies.

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One study isn't enough to really know whether a treatment works.

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Our confidence grows when studies are repeated

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and researchers find the same outcome.

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This is especially true when treatments have been studied

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by different researchers in different settings --

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all with similar results.

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The quality of those studies is important, too.

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In high quality studies, the people in the study are

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the kind of people who would use the treatment being tested.

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In addition, the treatment being tested is compared to another

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treatment or to no treatment.

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And participants are randomly assigned --

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by chance -- to the treatment groups.

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That way, we know the groups are the same at the start,

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and that improvement during the study is due to the treatment.

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Another characteristic of evidence-based treatments

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is expert agreement that they work.

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If a study is published in a scientific journal,

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it means reviewers examined how the study was done

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and agree with the conclusions.

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There are also organizations -- like the Institute of Medicine,

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American Psychiatric Association,

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and Department of Veterans Affairs -- that review studies

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and publish recommendations identifying

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evidence-based treatments.

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The stronger the recommendation that a treatment is effective,

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the more confidence you can have that the treatment

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has good outcomes.

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So, when you're searching for a treatment,

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look for the term "evidence-based."

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When your medical or mental health care provider offers

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a treatment, ask about the research that supports it.

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If the treatment isn't evidence-based,

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ask why it's being recommended.

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For most people, evidence-based treatments offer

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the best chance for recovery.

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For information about evidence-based psychotherapy

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and medication for posttraumatic stress disorder -- or PTSD --

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visit the National Center for PTSD website at:

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www.ptsd.va.gov.