Placebo and Antidepressant Treatment for Major Depression: Is there a Lesson to be Learned for Psychotherapy?

Antidepressant medication is generally considered the primary treatment for major depressive disorders (MDD), but antidepressant treatment has recently approached a crisis with shrinking specific effects and growing placebo responses in current trials. The aim of the paper is to review the placebo problem within antidepressant treatment for MDD, and to draw lines to similar problems within the field of psychotherapy. Although clinicians might profit from the large placebo response in their treatment of MDD, the small differences between active treatment and placebo groups found in controlled studies should be considered a reminder that there is a need for more efficacious treatments for MDD, medical as well as psychological.