Do psychedelics really work to treat depression and PTSD? Here's what the evidence says
Do psychedelics really work to treat depression and PTSD? Here's what the evidence says
In addition to placebo effects, patients might be motivated to report they have gotten better, even when they haven’t.
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In addition to placebo effects, patients might be motivated to report they have gotten better, even when they haven’t.
Isn't "patients reporting they've gotten better when they haven't" pretty much the definition of "placebo effect?"
Nope. The placebo effect is when there's actual measurable benefit from the placebo. Misreporting is something else.
How do you figure? We're talking about somebody reporting a positive health outcome, despite not actually being any better, because they expect to feel better. How is that not placebo?
In some cases it can be hard to tell them apart. But take fever relief medications as an example. There's no reporting at all, you measure the temperature difference before and after taking the pill. And yes, the placebo effect exists here and does lower temperature, but the medication is much more effective. There are even placebo surgeries to test the effectiveness of a surgery protocol.
A very good video on the subject: https://youtu.be/tefIopDJQBQ
The difference is that placebo is an objectively measureable benefit, regardless of whether they report being better or not.
Misreporting is a reported benefit, regardless lf whether they are objectively measureably better or not.
E.g. joint inflammation could be an example. Measurable reduction in inflammation with a calipers could be induced by placebo, even if patient doesn't report feeling better. But reporting feeling better may not come with any measured reduction in swelling.
Placebo is not (just) in the mind, it is in the entire body!
I acknowledge it is less clear-cut in mental health, but I just wanted to answer the general question outside of this specific context.
People who support drug legalization or just like drugs in general and sign up for these trials may be incentivized to lie about their experience. Even if they subjectively experience no improvement in depression ("no placebo effect" situation), they might lie and say they did to make psychedelics look more useful. As the article says, it is hard to setup a double-blind experiment since the psychedelic effect is pretty unmistakable.