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                           Placebo Research at the
                       UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute

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   Q & A about Placebos (FAQ)

   Our Research Team
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   One of the most puzzling facts of medicine is the placebo effect:
   namely, that a substantial proportion of patients report feeling better
   after receiving a "sugar pill," or some other treatment with no known
   benefit for their illness. Between 30 - 60% of patients with illnesses
   ranging from arthritis to depression report a substantial improvement
   in their symptoms after receiving a placebo. It is not clear that
   placebo can "cure" any illness, but the power of the placebo effect in
   improving symptoms and reducing suffering is impressive.

   Our research program is designed to help us understand how placebo
   effects occur and how to distinguish between people who are exhibiting
   a placebo response and those responding to the specific treatment (e.g.
   medication).

   Our group is the first to report that when treatment with placebo
   reduces symptoms, it also changes the function of the brain. We
   examined research subjects with major depression, some of whom respond
   favorably to placebo treatment as part of research studies. When the
   subjects improved during placebo treatment, their brain function
   changed; the changes seen during placebo treatment were different from
   those seen during medication treatment. You can read the press release
   here and the full article was published online in January 2002 in the
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   More recently, we have reported that brain function changes during a
   brief placebo treatment period can identify those who will later
   develop side effects when taking a real antidepressant medication. The
   press release and article from the April 2005 issue of