SynthesisThe lancet. Psychiatry2015
Placebo eff ects in psychiatry: mediators and moderators.
Synthesis in The lancet. Psychiatry, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 94 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
94 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Combined pharmacological and psychosocial interventions for alcohol use disorder.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Placebo effects in randomized trials of pharmacological and neurostimulation interventions for mental disorders: An umbrella review.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Placebo and nocebo effects in gambling disorder pharmacological trials: a meta-analysis.Acta neuropsychiatrica · 2024Pooled it
- Psychosocial and medication interventions to stop or reduce alcohol consumption during pregnancy.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Placebo effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on negative symptoms and cognition in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Placebo Effect and its Correlates in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2023Pooled it
- Placebo response in pharmacological trials in patients with functional dyspepsia-A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurogastroenterology and motility · 2023Pooled it
- Control interventions in randomised trials among people with mental health disorders.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Placebo effects and neuromodulation for depression: a meta-analysis and evaluation of shared mechanisms.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Differential power of placebo across major psychiatric disorders: a preliminary meta-analysis and machine learning study.Scientific reports · 2021Pooled it
- Placebo response in pharmacological and dietary supplement trials of autism spectrum disorder (ASD): systematic review and meta-regression analysis.Molecular autism · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The placebo effect and its clinical associations in gambling disorder.Annals of clinical psychiatry : official journal of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists · 2017Pooled it
- Lumateperone monotherapy for major depressive episodes associated with bipolar disorder: efficacy and safety in a randomized placebo-controlled trial.International clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Trial
- Experimental pasta as an innovative approach to cholesterol reduction in patients with metabolic syndrome, with and without major psychiatric disorders: A randomized controlled trial supported byEuropean psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Trial
- Predictors of Placebo Response in the Study of Oxytocin in Autism to Improve Reciprocal Social Behaviors.Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- A core component of psychological therapy causes adaptive changes in computational learning mechanisms.Psychological medicine · 2024Trial
- Daily mother-infant skin-to-skin contact and maternal mental health and postpartum healing: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Intermittent theta burst stimulation of cerebellar vermis enhances fronto-cerebellar resting state functional connectivity in schizophrenia with predominant negative symptoms: A randomized controlled trial.Schizophrenia research · 2021Trial
- The impact of COVID-19 on body-dissatisfied female university students.The International journal of eating disorders · 2021Trial
34 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A strong placebo response in psychiatric disorders has been noted for the past 50 years and various attempts have been made to identify predictors of it, by use of meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and laboratory studies. We reviewed 31 meta-analyses and systematic reviews of more than 500 randomised placebo-controlled trials across psychiatry (depression, schizophrenia, mania, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, psychosis, binge-eating disorder, and addiction) for factors identified to be associated with increased placebo response. Of 20 factors discussed, only three were often linked to high placebo responses: low baseline severity of symptoms, more recent trials, and unbalanced randomisation (more patients randomly assigned to drug than placebo). Randomised controlled trials in non-drug therapy have not added further predictors, and laboratory studies with psychological, brain, and genetic approaches have not been successful in identifying predictors of placebo responses. This comprehensive Review suggests that predictors of the placebo response are still to be discovered, the response probably has more than one mediator, and that different and distinct moderators are probably what cause the placebo response within psychiatry and beyond.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.