Recent advances in mental illness treatment illustrate the tremendous potential for medical progress through research. As a result, it has become imperative for the clinical researcher to be aware of the complex ethical issues surrounding medical research—more than ever before.

Written by recognized experts in the field, Ethics in Psychiatric Research provides a comprehensive overview of the ethical concerns and regulations covering medical research on human subjects. This practical manual covers

• Pros and cons of alternative approaches to consider for informed consent and other ethical issues related to clinical research of mental disorders
• Methods for assessing and monitoring the quality of care during and after research
• Surrogate decision-making and advance directives issues that arise when working with cognitively impaired research subjects
• How to inform subjects of the risks and benefits of research
• Special issues pertinent to conducting research with children and adolescents as well as substance abuse subjects
• Patient and family concerns about research involving human subjects

This annotated volume provides much-needed information for clinical investigators on important ethical principles and regulations in psychiatric research.

Reviews
“This volume clearly sets out contemporary procedures for an ethical balance of research risks and benefits. It does not attempt to foist new standard guidelines to be followed in the pursuit of ethical research. Researchers will benefit greatly from this book, and it will also be helpful to the community practitioner who has a special interest in research ethics. It should become a standard for training psychiatry researchers.”—Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

“The title alone of this new arrival from the American Psychiatric Association carries enough hot-button words to pique wide attention, and the contents end up justifying an attentive read. Although nominally written for specialist audiences in the academic research community, this book is a valuable addition to the growing literature on the ethics of research.”—Metapsychology

“The editors of this excellent book have met their objective in providing a compendium of issues, principles, and empirical outcomes to guide researchers in mental health. All the challenging questions are tackled. . . . This book is a must for everyone involved in research with human subjects.”—Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health