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About Mental Health Clinical Research and Studies
What is clinical research?
Clinical research refers to studies in which people participate as patients or volunteers. Different terms are used to describe clinical research, including clinical studies, clinical trials, studies, research, trials, and protocols. Clinical research may have a number of goals, such as developing new treatments or medications, identifying causes of illness, studying trends, or evaluating ways in which genetics may be related to an illness. The study volunteers can be people with diagnosed mental illness or healthy participants with no history of mental illness.
Strict rules for clinical studies have been put in place by NIH and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some studies involve promising new treatments that may directly benefit participants. Others do not directly benefit participants, but may help scientists learn better ways to help people.
For more information refer to NIH Publication No. 08-4379 http://www.addrc.org/mental-health-clinical-trials/
Why Participate in Clinical Research?
Clinical research studies and clinical trials have play a vital role in finding new and effective treatments. When you participate in a clinical research study aimed at treating mental illness, you are helping in finding better ways to prevent, detect or treat mental health conditions.
Being part of clinical research gives you access to latest treatment options, medical examinations under the careful supervision of physicians and research team who are experts in that particular area of medicine. Some of the studies may also provide compensation for time and travel to the study to the research volunteers. Be aware that participating in the study does not ensure that you will receive the latest treatment. You could be part of the placebo group, or there may be unfavorable side-effects. However, since you are under the care of a dedicated team, you will be educated and quickly treated if there are any undesirable side-effects.
Choosing to take part in clinical research is an important personal decision. Your decision to participate will depend on your interests, needs, and expectations about research.
Confidentiality is an important part of clinical research and ensures that personal information is seen only by those authorized to have access. It also means that the personal identity and all medical information of clinical trial participants is known only to the individual patient and researchers. Results from a study will usually be presented only in terms of trends or overall findings and will not mention specific participants.
People sometimes think that participating in a study will require changes to their current treatment, but this is not always the case. Though some studies may require participants to try new medications or treatments, other studies use techniques such as brain scans, psychological tests, behavioral observation, or blood tests for genetic evaluation. Such studies may not require any change in treatment.
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Where to find Clinical Research in the San Francisco Bay Area
There are many opportunities to participate in clinical research in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the studies may also offer some compensation for participation. Below are links to some of the schools and institutions that have current clinical trials that are open and seeking volunteers.
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List of Current Research Studies
Want to know how clinical research trials work? The attached flyer from the National Institute of Mental Health lists questions and answers about these trials.
