Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:55:33.314Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Side Effects and Placebo Amplification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Richard Thomson
Richard Thomson*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A sample of placebo-controlled tricyclic antidepressant studies was examined retrospectively to determine whether there was any difference in the relative efficacy of the tricyclic when it was compared against an inert placebo as against an active (atropine) placebo with anticholinergic side effects. Fewer studies showed a significant difference between atropine placebo and drug than between inert placebo and drug. The possibilities that atropine has a specific antidepressant effect or that side effects amplify placebo responses are considered.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 140 , Issue 1 , January 1982 , pp. 64 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brune, G., Morpugo, C., Bielkus, A., Kobayashi, T., Towlentes, T. & Himwich, H. (1962) Relevance of drug induced extrapyramidal reactions to behavioral changes during neuroleptic treatment. Treatment with trifluoperazine singly and in combination with trihexyphenidyl. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 3, 227–34.Google Scholar
Daneman, E. (1964) Imipramine in office management of depressive reactions (a double blind clinical study). Diseases of the Nervous System, 22, 213–17.Google Scholar
Dinnerstein, A. & Halm, J. (1970) Modification of placebo effects by means of drugs: Effects of aspirin and placebos on self-rated moods. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 75, 308–14.Google Scholar
Friedman, A., Granick, S., Cohen, H. & Cowitz, B. (1966) Imipramine (Tofranil) vs placebo in hospitalized psychotic depressives. (A comparison of patients self ratings, psychiatrists ratings and psychological test scores). Journal of Psychiatric Research, 4, 13—36.Google Scholar
Hollister, L., Overall, J., Johnson, M., Pennington, V., Katz, G. & Shelton, J. (1964) Controlled comparison of amitriptyline, imipramine, and placebo in hospitalized depressed patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 139, 370–5.Google Scholar
Hussain, Z. (1970) Drugs in Depressive Illness. British Medical Journal, ii, 482.Google Scholar
Janowsky, D., El-Yousef, M., Davis, J. & Sekerke, H. (1972) A cholinergic-adrenergic hypothesis of mania and depression. Lancet, ii, 632–5.Google Scholar
Kast, E. & Loesch, J. (1961) Influence of the doctor patient relationship on drug action. Illinois Medical Journal, 119, 390–3.Google Scholar
Letemendia, F. & Harris, A. (1959) The influence of side effects on the reporting of symptoms. Psychopharmacologia, 1, 39—47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lipman, R., Park, L., Rickels, K. & Chase, C. (1966) Paradoxical influence of a therapeutic side-effect interpretation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 15, 462–74.Google Scholar
Lyerly, S., Ross, S., Krugman, A. & Clyde, D. (1964) Drugs and placebos: The effects of instructions upon performance and mood under amphetamine sulphate and chloral hydrate. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 68, 321–7.Google Scholar
Marini, J., Sheard, M., Bridges, C. & Wagner, E. (1976) An evaluation of the double blind design in a study comparing lithium carbonate with placebo. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 53, 343–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, J. & Beck, A. (1974) The efficacy of antidepressant drugs. A review of research (1958—1972). Archives of General Psychiatry, 30, 667–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nash, M. (1962) The double blind procedure: Rationale and empirical evaluation. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 134, 34–7.Google Scholar
Penick, S. & Fisher, S. (1965) Drug-set interaction: psychological and physiological effects of epinephrine under differential expectations. Psychosomatic Medicine, 27, 177–82.Google Scholar
Penick, S. & Hinkle, L. (1964) The effect of expectation on response to phenmetrazine. Psychosomatic Medicine, 26, 369–73.Google Scholar
Shapiro, A. (1971) Placebo effects in Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. In Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, (eds. Bergin, A. and Garfield, S.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Shapiro, A. & Morris, L. (1978) The placebo effect in medical and psychological therapies. In Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, (eds. Garfield, S. and Bergin, A.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Smith, A., Traganza, E. & Harrison, G. (1969) Studies on the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, Supplement, March, 1–53.Google Scholar
Snyder, S. & Yamamura, H. (1977) Antidepressants and the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. Archives of General Psychiatry, 2, 236–9.Google Scholar
Stallone, F., Mendlewicz, J. & Fieve, R. (1975) Double blind procedure: an assessment in a study of lithium prophylaxis. Psychological Medicine, 5, 78—82.Google Scholar
Uhlenhuth, E. & Park, L. (1963) The influence of medication (imipramine) and doctor in relieving depressed psychoneurotic outpatients. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2, 101–22.Google Scholar
Van der Kolk, B., Shader, R. & Greenblatt, D. (1978) Autonomic effects of psychotropic drugs. In Psychopharmacology: A Generation of Progress, (eds. Lipton, M., Di Mascio, A. and Killam, K.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, I., Vernon, J. & Sandiler, M. Jr. (1963) A controlled study of treatment of depression. Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 4, 331–7.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.