[Resident psychiatrists in Amsterdam recognize the value of personal therapy]. / De waardering van leertherapie door psychiaters in opleiding in Amsterdam.

BACKGROUND: Resident psychiatrists in the Netherlands, unlike their counterparts in other countries, are obliged to undergo 50 hours of personal psychotherapy. In 1994 Trijsburg et al. published the results of a questionnaire that had been completed by psychiatrists, psychologists and other persons training to become psychotherapists. AIM: To fnd out how resident psychiatrists in Amsterdam in 2003 characterised and rated the therapy module in their course. METHOD: Resident psychiatrists in Amsterdam were asked to complete a shortened version of the 1994 questionnaire. The Utrecht Burn-out Scale was added. RESULTS: Personal therapy was greatly appreciated, but the psychotherapists were more convinced of the positive effects than were the residents. Hardly anyone referred to any negative aspects. The residents did not consider personal therapy to be an essential element in their course. Two-thirds of the residents in Amsterdam were female, a large increase compared to the male-female ratio in 1994. The workload of the residents was in accordance with that of other workers in the health care sector. CONCLUSION: Since resident psychiatrists in Amsterdam have a positive attitude to compulsory personal therapy, there seems to be no compelling reasonfor abolishing this module--even though the beneficial effects of this therapy have never been demonstrated.

Flurazepam and temazepam in the treatment of insomnia in a general hospital population.

This study is a double-blind comparative trial of flurazepam and temazepam in the treatment of insomnia, using subjective assessments with an analogue scale technique and questionnaire. The main dependent variable in this experiment is vigilance. The two drugs differ essentially in their half life value. (Flurazepam +/- 72 h; temazepam +/- 8 h). It can be predicted that temazepam causes less impairment of vigilance than flurazepam, and that the difference between the two drugs is more pronounced when the number of days the drugs are taken consecutively, increases. In statistical terms an interaction effect between drugs and days should be expected. The results show no effect at all, neither the predicted interaction effect, nor any main effect. If there is a difference in efficiency reduction between patients, the assessment methods used were unable to measure it. These findings warn against a possible overestimation of clinical relevance of the plasma elimination half-life of benzodiazepines.