ABSTRACT
Much of the demand for research in psychoanalysis in recent years has arisen from the wider insistence on the need for a scientific evidence base for medicine, and for other public services, such as education. Even the culture of evidence-based medicine is relatively recent in its dominance. Earlier, professional consensus among doctors was more likely than scientific trials to determine what treatments were offered for many illnesses. One of the leading forces in this later development has been the pharmaceutical industry. Procedures of research to find new drugs involving clinical trials, followed by licensing by the state and funded forms of treatment that create markets for patent-protected drugs, have become standard in physical and psychological medicine. In physical medicine it has been possible to demonstrate the effectiveness of this model of medical provision. “Survival rates” for many diseases have improved in response to trialled medical remedies, and overall increases in life-expectancies contribute to public confidence in this system.
