Placebo Effects

Conventional medicine relies heavily upon the placebo effect. In fact, there is a multi-billion dollar industry that actively works to maximize this effect. It’s called drug marketing.

A recent study found that the four newest antidepressants approved by the FDA and now in wide use actually worked no better than a placebo at relieving depression when the data submitted to the FDA was analyzed. The very small percent of people these drugs “worked” for were the most severely depressed people. In this group, it was found that the drugs didn’t actually work to relieve depression, but that the placebo effect didn’t work as well in this group.

Which antidepressants are we talking about? The study looked specifically at Prozac, Effexor, Paxil and Serzone, but the other drugs in the same class include Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Zoloft and many others.

Once these drugs were approved (most in the early-to-mid 90s), though, the marketing began. Billions went into selling the drugs to the public and promoting their use to physicians. The result?

“[A]bout six in 10 adult patients get some relief from” the newest class of antidepressants. That’s a pretty impressive boost of the placebo effect. After about 15 years of marketing and advertising, the drugs that perform no better than placebo were “helping” 60% of those who took them.

We’ll never know just how significant the role of the placebo effect is in conventional medical therapies, but information like this suggests that it plays a very important role in boosting the effectiveness of conventional medications.

Meanwhile, alternative therapies – which are a fraction of the cost – are quite often accused of working simply by placebo effect.

Oh, the irony.