Posted by Althea8869 on March 3, 2004, at 19:01:11
In reply to Some thoughts, posted by Questionmark on March 3, 2004, at 10:01:22
It really is an amazing thing isnt it? The absolute power the mind can have over the body. You are right, incidentally, there have been other studies where similar results were seen by those taking a placebo. Another one I read about involves a medication that had a very high probability of causing a rash around nose/face, similar to lupus. And patients were told that if they saw this rash that they should immediately cease the medication. Once again, something like 40% of the placebo takers got this exact rash. Its quite amazing.
Its also one of the most compelling reasons behind the American Psychiatric Assoc's statement that psychotherapy ALONE is more efficacious in the treatment of almost all forms of depression than ANY medication(s) alone. And further that long term remission rates are far higher for psychotherapy treated patients than for patients treated with medication alone. Interestingly, they have just as much clinical data(if not more) to support their statements as pharm's have supporting their drugs.
Most psych's agree, however, that the best long term success rates are achieved by a combination of medication and a particular psychotherapy treatment suited to your situation. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, for example, seems to be broadly efficacious for some forms of depression.
Anyway - yeah! Its interesting stuff. It seems like there must be a way of combining the two on a purer basis. Who knows.
poster:Althea8869
thread:318034
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040228/msgs/319874.html