According to a recent study, a network of brain areas triggered by the placebo effect coincides with numerous regions addressed with brain-stimulation treatment for depression. The findings of this study, which were published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, may help researchers better understand the neurobiology of placebo effects and may have an impact on how clinical trials of brain stimulation are viewed.
The placebo effect happens when a patient’s symptoms alleviate because they expect a treatment to help (for a number of reasons) rather than because of the treatment’s particular benefits. A recent study suggests that the placebo effect has a neurological foundation, with imaging tests revealing a pattern of alterations in certain brain areas when an individual experiences the phenomenon.
In recent years, the usage of brain-stimulation treatments for individuals with depression who do not react well to medicine or psychotherapy has become more common. TMS is a non-invasive procedure in which a practitioner places a coil on the patient’s head and sends electromagnetic pulses to the brain. Furthermore, there is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of deep brain stimulation for difficult-to-treat depression.
To generate a “map” of brain areas activated by the placebo effect, scientists performed a meta-analysis and assessment of neuroimaging studies, including healthy volunteers and patients. A considerable number of depression patients who get brain stimulation improve in clinical trials, but many patients who receive placebo (sham) stimulation, in which no stimulation is given, also improve, leading to a misunderstanding about the therapy’s effects. A potential reason is that any kind of brain stimulation technique has a large placebo effect.
The results show that understanding how to modify and harness the placebo effect might have a wide range of uses, including employing it as a possible therapeutic tool by deliberately stimulating brain areas of the placebo network to elicit favorable effects on symptoms.
