Role of the Placebo Response in the Treatment of Depressive Disorders:

Results from placebo-controlled trials of antidepressants have demonstrated that a large proportion of depressed patients show a significant improvement of symptoms while receiving placebo. In some patients, the improvement may be due to the natural course of the illness, independent of any therapeutic intervention, but in others it may be due to nonspecific therapeutic factors. Presumably, the latter are at least as relevant in clinical practice as in the research setting.