Anxiety and depression profile of 188 consecutive new patients presenting to a Neuro-Emotional Technique practitioner.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to describe the profile of a cohort of patients who presented to a Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET) clinic. This study investigated the change in the Distress and Risk Assessment Method (DRAM) outcome measure score after a 3-month course of NET was administered to participants.


METHODS
This was an uncontrolled cohort study in private practice.


METHODS
One hundred and eighty-eight (188) consecutive new patients presented to a NET clinic.


METHODS
The intervention was a 3-month course of NET, which incorporates elements of muscle testing, general semantics, Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, and chiropractic principles to manage patients' conditions.


METHODS
Scoring on the DRAM questionnaire was the outcome measure.


RESULTS
Of the participants, 55.9% had musculoskeletal complaints, 34.6% had nonmusculoskeletal complaints, and 9.6% reported no presenting complaint. Strongly significant differences in the mean DRAM scores and the mean individual component scores were found between pre- and post-treatment. There was strong evidence to suggest that the Modified Somatic Perceptions Questionnaire and the Modified Zung Depression Index scores were correlated (p < 0.001), and that the allocation of subjects in any pretest category to categories on the basis of post-test scores changed from category to category.


CONCLUSIONS
NET is different from traditionally described chiropractic practice, and appears, based on this one clinic, to have far more nonmusculoskeletal presentations. This profile, if consistent with other practices, has strong implications for scope of practice for this form of chiropractic practitioners. Many participant presentations were "at risk" of, or were clinically depressed, according to the DRAM. The DRAM status of the patient cohort significantly and clinically improved with the NET treatment. As this study was nonrandomized and uncontrolled, the results should be viewed with caution. We recommend that larger-scale randomized controlled trials be commenced to investigate the preliminary findings of this report.
Bablis
Peter
P
Macquarie Injury Management Group, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Pollard
Henry
H
D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D002684:Chiropractic / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology; D059408:Pain Management; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome