But analyses of the published data and the unpublished data that were hidden by drug companies reveals that most (if not all) of the benefits are due to the placebo effect.
Antidepressants and the Placebo Effect
Open Administration of Placebos Greatly Increases Effectiveness
In postoperative pain following the extraction of the third molar (Levine et al., 1981; Levine and Gordon, 1984), a hidden intravenous injection of 6–8 mg morphine corresponded to an open intravenous injection of saline solution in full view of the patient (placebo). In other words, telling the patient that a painkiller was being injected (with …
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Preconditioning Effects on Analgia
Price et al. (1999) applied placebo creams and graded levels of heat stimulation on three adjacent cutaneous regions of the forearm, giving subjects expectations that cream A was a strong analgesic, cream B was a weak analgesic, and cream C was a control agent. Immediately after these conditioning trials, subjects rated their expected pain …
Mechanisms of Pain
Persistent or chronic pain is the primary reason people seek medical care, yet current therapies are either inadequate for certain types of pain or cause intolerable side effects. Recently, pain neurobiologists have identified a number of cellular and molecular processes that lead to the initiation and maintenance of pain. Understanding these underlying mechanisms has given significant promise for the development of more effective, more specific pain therapies in the near future.