Naslov
Significance of Participants’ Expectations in Managing the Placebo Effect in Antidepressant Research

Autori
Ćurković, Marko ; Košec, Andro

Izvornik
Frontiers in psychiatry (1664-0640) 10 (2019); 713, 6

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, stručni

Ključne riječi
depression, antidepressants, placebo, placebo effect, efficacy, randomized controlled trials

Sažetak
Unraveling complexities behind the response to treatment marked the placebo effect as a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry, even though it was conceived as a safeguard against the bias and uncertainty that accompany biomedical research. As the placebo effect comes under scrutiny regarding treatment specificity, it has been postulated that most of its effects are driven by participants’ expectations. Such an argument has substantial empirical backing, and the placebo effect is now commonly referred to as an expectation- related effect. Attempts to distinguish it from other possible effects related to scientific methodology in general (regression to mean, the course of the disease, response bias, etc.) are numerous. Participants’ expectations are defined as beliefs about the nature and the possibility of improvement as a consequence of receiving therapeutic intervention. In this article, the terms expectations and expectancies are used interchangeably, but it is important to note that they are commonly defined differently. Expectations refer to the measurable beliefs that can be verbalized by individuals, while expectancy refers to psychologically driven predictions that can exist and act without an individual’s full awareness.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biotehnologija u biomedicini (prirodno područje, biomedicina i zdravstvo, biotehničko područje)

POVEZANOST RADA