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Science 9 April 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5412, pp. 238 - 240
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5412.238
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News Focus

PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY:
Can the Placebo Be the Cure?

Martin Enserink

A promising new drug for depression failed to clear efficacy tests this year, illuminating a decades-old problem in psychopharmacology that researchers say deserves more study: the placebo effect, in which patients receiving a dummy pill do almost as well as those on the drug being tested, thereby wiping out the rationale for the new drug. Drug developers regard it as an occupational hazard that masks the effects of potentially useful compounds. But some psychiatrists and clinical psychologists are fascinated by the power of the placebo effect, viewing it not as a problem but as a source of insight into mental health. And a few go further, arguing that many compounds may be little more than sophisticated placebos themselves.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Neurobiological Mechanisms of the Placebo Effect.
F. Benedetti, H. S. Mayberg, T. D. Wager, C. S. Stohler, and J.-K. Zubieta (2005)
J. Neurosci. 25, 10390-10402
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Why Do We Need Another Antiemetic? Just Ask..
M. G. Kris (2003)
J. Clin. Oncol. 21, 4077-4080
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Placebo Response in Cluster Headache Trials: A Review.
A. Nilsson Remahl, E Laudon Meyer, C Cordonnier, and P. Goadsby (2003)
Cephalalgia 23, 504-510
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Placebos that harm: sham surgery controls in clinical trials.
A. J. London and J. B. Kadane (2002)
Statistical Methods in Medical Research 11, 413-427
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Functional Neuroanatomy of the Placebo Effect.
H. S. Mayberg, J. A. Silva, S. K. Brannan, J. L. Tekell, R. K. Mahurin, S. McGinnis, and P. A. Jerabek (2002)
Am J Psychiatry 159, 728-737
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Review: placebo is better than no treatment for subjective continuous outcomes and for treatment of pain.
T. A Furukawa (2002)
Evid. Based Ment. Health 5, 15
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Review: placebo is better than no treatment for subjective continuous outcomes and for treatment of pain.
T. A Furukawa (2002)
Evid. Based Med. 7, 11
   Full Text »    PDF »
Changes in Brain Function of Depressed Subjects During Treatment With Placebo.
A. F. Leuchter, I. A. Cook, E. A. Witte, M. Morgan, and M. Abrams (2002)
Am J Psychiatry 159, 122-129
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Placebo response in depression: bane of research, boon to therapy.
G. ANDREWS (2001)
The British Journal of Psychiatry 178, 192-194
   Full Text »    PDF »
Should depression be managed as a chronic disease?.
G. Andrews (2001)
BMJ 322, 419-421
   Full Text »
What Conditions Are Necessary to Assess Antidepressant Efficacy?.
F. M. Quitkin and D. F. Klein (2000)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 57, 323-324
   Full Text »    PDF »


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