Placebo effect found to be growing stronger for transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy used for depression (We are making better placebos)

Medical Xpress / Nature Mental Health ^ | Sept. 28, 2023 | Bob Yirka / Yangting Xu et al

[ConservativeMind]

A team of medical researchers has found evidence suggesting that the placebo effect has grown stronger in trials of transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy for patients treated for depression.

Prior research has shown that the placebo effect—where a patient is given a "sham" medication or therapy to treat an ailment instead of a real one—can be an effective means of treating some conditions.

Prior research has also suggested that the placebo effect might be growing stronger in recent years—tests with placebo pills are now providing even more benefits than those that were used in the past.

In this new effort, the researchers wondered if a similar increase might be observed with transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy.

In transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy, a device is attached to the head of a patient as a means of applying a magnetic field to desired parts of the brain. This may stimulate neuronal activity, resulting in reduction in depression symptoms.

To find out if a placebo effect might be growing stronger with transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy, the research team studied data from two trials that were involved in testing the effectiveness of the therapy technique; one conducted over the years 1999 to 2007, the other from 2018 to 2022. Both involved the traditional therapy and a control, where a device was attached to the patient's head but no magnetic stimulation was applied.

Both teams had found during their respective trials that the placebo effect worked almost as well as the real therapy. In comparing the two trials, the research team found that the placebo effect was stronger in the second trial, suggesting it was growing stronger over time. The researchers suggest that the increase was likely due to a stronger belief by patients that the therapy was going to help them.

[ConservativeMind]

If something harmless works, but has no basis for working, that’s great, but not reliably repeatable, so I don’t plan to send this to the ping list.

However, it is a bit funny, so I thought some of you might enjoy it.

[Chicory]

I found it interesting that placebos haveba greater effect now than they used do. It makes me wonder if people are less skeptical nowadays ...

[enumerated]

This is nonsense.

There can be no objective measure of success of treatment for a condition such as depression, the diagnosis of which is entirely subjective.

For the same reason, the idea we can objectively measure the effect a placebo used in treating depression is absurd.

[ModelBreaker]

This may explain some people’s intense faith in mask wearing.

[steve86]

I’ve frequently wondered if TMS was a placebo effect and a researchers’ and clinicians’ wish fulfillment. Very difficult to describe a credible physical mechanism that could result in therapeutic improvement. The conventional explanation is that the magnetic field induces depolarixing of neural cell membrane potentials in cortical tissue leading to mood improvements but this involves some speculation.

OTOH, some superficially similar interventions such as Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) are more straightforward and less metaphysical in nature. The application of small (typically 1-2 mA) electrical currents across the cranium stimulates brain cells, just as pinpoint electrical currents have been known for centuries to stimulate other types of cells. Many studies have documented electrophysiological and molecular changes in the brain occurring coincident with tDCS treatment for depression and other conditions.

[hinckley buzzard]

In the last 20 years people have been conditioned by their devices to accept uncritically whatever they are told, eg to “trust the experts,” leading to increased suggestibility and decline in critical judgment. The placebo effect doesn’t work for everyone, but with a more credulous and susceptible culture, it would be expected to increase both in frequency and intensity as conditioned suggestibility increases.

[fini]

There can be no objective measure of success of treatment for a condition such as depression, the diagnosis of which is entirely subjective."

I have a very good acquaintance who is a phycologist. He told me that when talking about depression we are still in the "arsenic and blood letting stage of medicine."

Remember, we did not sue doctors until they could actually heal people- outcomes were too random to determine malpractice.

[Honest Nigerian]

There is scientific evidence for what is called the “no-cebo effect”.
Kind of weird, but even when the test subjects are told that the pill they are taking is not medicine (sugar pill, placebo) a measurable effect results.
The saying “its all in your head” comes to mind (pun not intended).

[Honest Nigerian]

I have a very good acquaintance who is a phycologist.
**************************************
Have NEVER heard of one of those. Is it like a phuckologist?

[steve in DC]

Phycology: The study or seaweed (algae).