UvA outpatient clinic for emotional disorders fully operational
The UvA PsyPoli, an outpatient clinic for people with anxiety and mood disorders, has been fully operational since 1 March 2010.
The UvA PsyPoli, an outpatient clinic for people with anxiety and mood disorders, has been fully operational since 1 March 2010. The new treatment centre, an initiative of the Clinical Psychology programme group of the University of Amsterdam (UvA), provides small-scale, high-quality mental healthcare, combined with innovative scientific research where possible. According to director Arnold van Emmerik, ‘The UvA PsyPoli is the bridge between the psychology laboratory and conventional care'.Emotional disorders, particularly anxiety and mood disorders, are the most common psychiatric disorders in the Netherlands and they involve much personal suffering and high costs for society. Scientific research into emotional disorders could result in major health benefits and lower healthcare costs. In the UvA PsyPoli, treatment and research go hand in hand. In addition to mood disorders, the UvA PsyPoli pays special attention to anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorders, erythrophobia and panic attacks. The UvA PsyPoli offers people suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder a treatment where the client not only relives his or her trauma but also learns to ‘rewrite' the trauma so that he or she is better able to understand it. A training course entitled ‘Dealing with erythrophobia' has also started. The many responses received show that erythrophobia is a problem that occurs more often than is generally thought and that it is also often more serious than is generally assumed.
It seems highly plausible that research eventually results in better treatments. But what does that mean for the individual client entering a research environment?
‘For the record, our clients are certainly treated by us. It's just that their treatment is combined with research. Each potential client goes through an extensive intake procedure, where we discuss the treatment options. The client may then opt for a conventional course of treatment or decide to go for an innovative, experimental treatment. So there is always "informed consent" as it is called; the client knows what kind of treatment he or she will be receiving.'
The client could then be put in a control group.
‘That's right. For some research areas, for example, a number of clients are first put on a waiting list. And where that's the case, it is discussed in advance with the client so that he or she can take this into consideration when deciding whether to go for an experimental treatment. By the way, the treatment studies currently underway do not have waiting lists as they are comparing two treatment variants with one another. Treatment studies that do have a waiting list mostly have places for clients following the end of the waiting period. Besides, in the conventional care system, there is also often a substantial period of time between registering for treatment and the actual start of the treatment.'
Can you give examples of experimental treatments?
‘Take Virtual Reality Exposure therapy, where UvA psychologists are conducting a study into the efficacy of this therapy. In this therapy, people with a panic disorder involving agoraphobia are not exposed to the actual situations that they fear (for example, a busy store or public transport), but are placed in rooms where these situations are projected onto the walls. The UvA PsyPoli offers people suffering from a complex post-traumatic stress disorder a treatment where the client not only relives his or her trauma but also learns to ‘rewrite' the trauma so that he or she is better able to understand it. Both clients that ‘completed treatment' elsewhere and new clients are welcome to come to the UvA PsyPoli.'
In what other ways is the UvA PsyPoli different?
‘The UvA PsyPoli was born of the need for something that links the psychology laboratory with conventional mental healthcare. Fundamental experimental research also yields a wealth of knowledge about the processes that play a role in the emergence and continuation of emotional disorders. However, most of this knowledge never finds its way to clinical practice. Mental healthcare institutions have ever dwindling financial resources to participate in the scientific research that is necessary to increase the efficacy and efficiency of current treatments. The UvA PsyPoli is not dependent on revenues from treatments and it has the financial resources to fund research.'
The UvA PsyPoli expects to treat around 150 to 200 clients each year. The centre's address is Roeterstraat 15 in Amsterdam.
Author: Esther van Bochove, FMG Communication Department