Introduction: A previous study revealed that patients with depression who received a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and placebo treatment (CBT+placebo) showed greater symptom reduction than a CBT group without a placebo. Moreover, the CBT+placebo group practiced relaxation training more frequently. We conducted a 3-month follow-up assessment to investigate the temporal stability of the placebo effects.
Methods: Eighty-two outpatients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder who had participated in a 4-week CBT course (CBT: n = 40; CBT with daily placebo treatment: n = 42) returned to a 3-month follow-up assessment. The participants of the CBT+placebo group had been debriefed directly after the course.
Results: Compared to the CBT group, the CBT+placebo group had lower scores on the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) at follow-up and more participants were below the clinical cut-off score of the BDI-II. Additionally, the CBT+placebo group continued to practice relaxation more frequently.
Discussion: This study demonstrates that placebo effects are not short-lived and continue to be present after the debriefing.

Keywords: placebo effects, temporal stability, depression, cognitive-behavioral therapy


中文翻译：

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抑郁症患者的认知行为疗法和安慰剂联合治疗：随访评估

简介：之前的一项研究表明，接受认知行为治疗 (CBT) 和安慰剂治疗 (CBT+安慰剂) 联合治疗的抑郁症患者比没有安慰剂的 CBT 组表现出更大的症状减轻。此外，CBT+安慰剂组更频繁地进行放松训练。我们进行了为期 3 个月的随访评估，以调查安慰剂效应的时间稳定性。
方法： 82 名诊断为重度抑郁症的门诊患者参加了为期 4 周的 CBT 课程（CBT：n = 40；每日安慰剂治疗的 CBT：n = 42）返回到 3 个月的随访评估. CBT+安慰剂组的参与者在课程结束后直接接受了汇报。
结果：与 CBT 组相比，CBT+安慰剂组在随访时的贝克抑郁量表-II (BDI-II) 得分较低，更多参与者低于 BDI-II 的临床临界值。此外，CBT+安慰剂组继续更频繁地练习放松。
讨论：这项研究表明，安慰剂效应不是短暂的，并且在汇报后会继续存在。

关键词：安慰剂效应，时间稳定性，抑郁症，认知行为疗法