When new pharmaceutical drugs are put on trial, they are usually tested against a placebo – some participants are given the real drug and some are given a placebo – and participants are generally not told whether their treatment contains the drug being tested or not.
In the United States, any drugs tested like this have to significantly outperform the placebo. But it seems, according to a BBC report, that this is happening less frequently, because the placebo response has been steadily strengthening.
Tests reveal that some well-known drugs for depression and anxiety would struggle to pass their clinical trials if they were re-tested in 2015.
This trend has become a huge concern for the pharmaceutical industry. A slew of drugs have flopped at these final clinical trials, by which time drugs companies have typically spent more than $1bn in research and development.
No-one knows why the placebo response is rising, says the BBC report, but a fascinating new study in the journal Pain might help experts pin it down.
Drawing on data from 80 trials for drugs to treat neuropathic pain, the researchers at McGill University in Montreal found that the trend was being driven by studies conducted in the States.
“Americans seem to be getting better merely by taking part in studies these days, regardless of whether they have been given real drugs or not,” they found.
Studies show that the placebo effect is strongly linked to patient expectations, with patients responding to the drug as if it was the real thing.
Researchers have found that the placebo effect can be activated in a whole range of different ways. There are examples where two groups are both given placebos, with one group told they’re receiving the real medicine.
Astonishingly, the group that thinks it’s getting the ‘medicine’ responds more positively to the treatment. The placebo effect comes into play most often when people are experiencing pain, fatigue, depression and nausea.
Scans of patients taking a placebo show their brains switching on parts that can help control stress and pain.
Professor Irving Kirsch studied the link between hypnosis and the placebo effect. He came up with what he called the ‘response expectancy theory’ to explain what they have in common.
In a nutshell, the theory means that people experience what they expect to experience. But there is a difference; while placebo is the sugar-coated pill with no real value, with hypnotherapy, the clients know what they are getting.
So, if there is trust in what is being given by the hypnotherapist, there is a greater chance of success. If the client believing the therapist can help, the session probably will and, if the expectation is to feel better afterwards, the client most likely will, too.
The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) is the largest not-for-profit professional body in the UK with more than 1,800 highly-qualified and well-trained therapists on its national directory.
Its therapists have the client’s well-being in mind and will aim to instil trust, confidence and a sense of expectation to ensure the treatment is successful.
After all, hypnotherapy is widely accepted as a real alternative within the medical profession.
It does not offer placebos, just results. Find an NCH therapist near you by using its directory (click here). Addictions, weight control, stress, anxiety, phobias and even pain control are among the solutions hypnotherapy can offer.