Clinical Trials – Information for Participants
What are clinical trials?
Clinical trials are research studies that look at new ways to improve health and prevent, detect, or treat diseases and conditions. They are critical to understanding and treating mental illnesses. Clinical trials are the primary way researchers determine if a new treatment is safe and effective in people.
Clinical trials can study:
- New drugs or combinations of drugs.
- New medical procedures (such as a new blood test or scan).
- New medical devices (such as a brain stimulation device).
- New therapies or behavioral interventions. Behavioral interventions help people change their behaviors, thoughts, and feelings to improve their mental health.
- New ways to prevent health conditions or find a disease early, sometimes even before symptoms occur.
Watch these videos to learn more about clinical trials
Why are clinical trials important?
Clinical trials are the foundation of most medical advances. Without clinical trials, many of the medical treatments and cures we have today wouldn’t exist.
By testing new treatments and interventions in a carefully designed and controlled way, researchers learn more about the underlying mechanisms of disease and develop new ways to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness.
The results of clinical trials help inform medical decision-making and provide evidence-based information about the benefits and risks of different treatments or interventions. Researchers and doctors use this information to decide which treatments should be recommended and which require more study.
Why should I participate in a clinical trial?
People volunteer for clinical trials for many reasons. Some people join clinical trials to help doctors and researchers learn more about a disease and improve health care. Other people, such as those with health conditions, join to try new or advanced treatments that aren’t widely available.
Researchers usually study people who have a specific health condition. Researchers sometimes need to compare data from volunteers with no health conditions to data from people with specific health conditions so they can use that information to learn more about the disease.
Participating in a clinical trial is entirely up to you. If you volunteer for a clinical trial and later decide it’s not right for you, you can withdraw anytime.
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