Annette, here's my take on it (I'm willing to stand corrected--I stand that way often): Placebos are getting stronger because they work due to expectation. The population is becoming increasingly expectant about a med working for their "depression" (or whatever is wrong). Thus, people expect more and they get it, even when it's a placebo. On the other hand, stronger placebos narrow the gap between effects due to the experimental drug and the placebo, therefore the difference is smaller (or nonexistent). Does that make sense?
Carol Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 Phone: 563-333-6482 e-mail: [email protected] web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with anyone without permission of the sender. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wed 3/10/2010 11:57 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Anti-depressants vs placebo: more on ---- Original message ---- > Placebos are getting stronger. In other words, the failure > of anti-depressants to show benefit relative to placebo is > not due to poorer performance of the drugs, but to improved > performance of placebos. This, I guess, is good news, > although not necessarily for the drug industry. ------------------------------------------- How the heck to placebos get stronger? Stronger in what way, in being less "active"? Do we have different placebos for different drugs? Huh? I'm confused. Can someone please define this so that I can see why the comparison to an active agent would make sense and possibly explain why the active agent is more effective than would be the case with a weaker placebo? I feel like I just typed a bunch of oxymoronic gibberish. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=12990.f9c1b5bf25d49031367434c598ee9250&n=T&l=tips&o=1190 or send a blank email to leave-1190-12990.f9c1b5bf25d49031367434c598ee9...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=1195 or send a blank email to leave-1195-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
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