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Self-experimentation and self-management: Allies in combination therapies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2004

Irene Grote*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas, LifeSpan Institute, Lawrence, KS66044http://www.people.ukans.edu/~grote/

Abstract

Self-experimentation is a valuable companion to self-management in the benefit of pharmaco-cognitive-behavior combination therapies. However, data on individuals participating as active therapeutic agents are sparse. Smoking cessation therapy is an example. Roberts' self-experimentation suggests trying more diversity in research to generate new ideas. This may inform current approaches to the cessation of smoking.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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References

Note

1. Coincidentally, I happened to be correcting the copyedited version of the present commentary while on a flight back from Washington D.C. where, across the aisle from me, sat an academic colleague who had just managed to lose 50 lbs of weight in a brief time span, in the course of a therapy that he considered more effective and successful than the typical recidivism rates we hear about from weight and smoking cessation therapies. Upon my querying my colleague about his role in the successful outcome, data collection process, and analysis, he stated that he was not interested in an analysis of the variables which led to his success and that of 30% of his cohorts (though he did participate in data collection, and he found the daily feedback from his balance an important incentive). Perhaps my colleague provides an example of the degree to which “self-control” is separate from “self-management” (Grote 1997), and therefore from self-experimentation in Roberts’ sense.