Different levels of brain response to sham treatment could predict resilience in the face of depression, help lead to new treatments
When it comes to treating depression, how well a person responds to a fake medicine may determine how well they’ll respond to a real one, new research finds.
Those who can muster their brain’s own chemical forces against depression, it appears, have a head start in overcoming its symptoms with help from a medication. But those whose brain chemistry doesn’t react as much to a fake medicine, or placebo, struggle even after getting an active drug.
We are not mere physical body. There are layers. One of them is मनोमय कोष. Mind. Cure efficacy highly depends upon patient’s strong will to live life fully (जिजीविषा) and doctor’s pious heart to see patient healthy asap.
Association Between Placebo-Activated Neural Systems and Antidepressant ResponsesNeurochemistry of Placebo Effects in Major Depression
http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2443355
Main Outcomes and Measures Changes in depressive symptoms in response to active placebo and antidepressant. Baseline and activation measures of µ-opioid receptor binding.
Results Higher baseline µ-opioid receptor binding in the nucleus accumbens was associated with better response to antidepressant treatment (r = 0.48; P = .02). Reductions in depressive symptoms after 1 week of active placebo treatment, compared with the inactive, were associated with increased placebo-induced µ-opioid neurotransmission in a network of regions implicated in emotion, stress regulation, and the pathophysiology of MDD, namely, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, nucleus accumbens, midline thalamus, and amygdala (nucleus accumbens: r = 0.6; P < .001). Placebo-induced endogenous opioid release in these regions was associated with better antidepressant treatment response, predicting 43% of the variance in symptom improvement at the end of the antidepressant trial.
Conclusions and Relevance These data demonstrate that placebo-induced activation of the µ-opioid system is implicated in the formation of placebo antidepressant effects in patients with MDD and also participate in antidepressant responses, conferring illness resiliency, during open administration.
