placebo response
the improvement people show on the inert comparator in trials — large in depression studies, and the reason 'I felt better on it' and 'it works better than placebo' are different claims.
it cuts in two directions at once, and discourse usually picks one.
what it is
People assigned to placebo in antidepressant trials routinely improve, often substantially — a bundle of natural recovery, regression to the mean, expectation, and the care that comes with being studied. In depression trials it is among the largest placebo responses in medicine.
both directions at once
It means the drug-specific effect (drug minus placebo) is smaller than the improvement people feel — and it means improvement on a drug is real improvement even when much of it would have happened anyway. Rising placebo response is also a major reason modern psychiatric trials fail, and part of why companies have left the field.
somewhere to put it
free. anonymous. people who’ve been where you are 🤍
get Resolv Social — it’s freewant the deeper story? read prescribed to fail
questions
if it's partly placebo, should I stop my medication?
No — improvement you feel is real and worth keeping, whatever its components. The placebo-subtracted number matters when deciding to start, which is a different job.
why do so many psychiatric trials fail?
Partly because placebo response has risen over the decades, shrinking the measurable drug-placebo gap — our research-funding page documents the consequences.
keep reading
more from the glossary
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