Placebos Can Cure Depression. So Why Don’t We Use Them More Often?
According to Luana Colloca, a placebo expert at the University of Maryland, reactions like Peabody’s aren’t uncommon in depressed patients who are randomly assigned placebos in clinical drug trials — though they’re taking a fake drug, their depression will often improve and their good mood will last. They can help with major depression like Peabody’s, too; while real drugs are often more effective in these cases, research from University of Utah psychiatrist Jon-Kar Zubieta found that placebo was a productive treatment for 45 to 50 percent of severely depressed participants. This is a major reason why Peabody’s depression stayed manageable after her drug trial ended — because of her high expectations and her strong belief that she was getting the help she needed, she’d effectively conditioned her brain to respond in the way she thought it was supposed to.
Source: melmagazine.com