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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 28, 2026

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

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Published on: December 14, 2014

Placebo response in depression.

Shamsah B Sonawalla¹, Jerrold F Rosenbaum

¹Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass, USA.

Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience

|October 29, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Depression is highly responsive to placebos, with 30-40% response rates in trials. Understanding placebo effects, predictors, and minimizing them is crucial for accurate antidepressant efficacy assessment.

Keywords:

clinical trials depression placebo placebo pattern response true drug response

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Area of Science:

Psychiatry
Clinical Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Depression exhibits natural fluctuations, making it highly placebo-responsive.
Mean placebo response rates in antidepressant clinical trials range from 30% to 40%.

Purpose of the Study:

To review the history, terminology, and mechanisms of placebo response in depression.
To identify predictors and patterns of placebo response in depressed patients.
To discuss strategies for minimizing placebo effects and ethical considerations.

Main Methods:

Literature review of placebo history, terminology, and proposed mechanisms.
Analysis of predictors and patterns of placebo response in clinical trials and real-world settings.
Discussion of current strategies to mitigate placebo effects and ethical guidelines.

Main Results:

Placebo response rates in depression trials are substantial (30-40%).
Factors influencing placebo response include physician-patient relationship, biological, sociocultural, and treatment situation elements.
Distinguishing true drug response from placebo response is essential.

Conclusions:

Minimizing placebo response is critical due to increasing placebo drift in trials.
Future research should focus on biological markers (e.g., neuroimaging) and improved research designs.
Developing valid biological tools is needed to accurately assess antidepressant efficacy.