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CNN Live Today

Sugar Pill Placebo Almost As Effective As Depression Drugs

Aired May 07, 2002 - 12:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Mental health professionals concede they are baffled. A new study indicates a pill full of sugar may be better at treating the blues than the high-priced antidepressants. Here to talk more about it, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our Medical Correspondent. Placebo, huh?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right. And people know the term, Placebo. And in this case it is a sugar pill. But remarkably, in this case, it actually treats depression almost as well as well-known anti- depressants, Zoloft, Paxil. Some of the interesting things though.

What we do know that's sort of new out of this is that the effects on the brain, actually some of the measurable, objective effects on the brain, from these sugar pills, from these Placebos are not too different from the Zoloft, Paxil, some of the other anti- depressants that we've been hearing so much about. And the numbers that we're talking about here, they compared it to some different clinical trials and they found the numbers very closely approximate that of the well-known anti-depressant.

HEMMER: They have found this with other symptoms, with other medications. Is this something that was just done recently, I guess, to figure out the Placebo or?

GUPTA: Right. Well the new thing here, Bill, is that there has been long standing that placebos do have various effects. Some people counter even on infections, certainly on depression as we found out in this case. There have been placebo-controlled trials against other anti-depressants, against St. John's Wart, for example, which is an over-the-counter medication.

But what is new here is that the actual, objective, measurable effects on the brain, on some of the same areas that anti-depressants work on the brain, they're finding that these placebos, and in this case, as you pointed out, Bill, sugar pills are having the same effects.

Now Bill, I should point out, no one is saying that -- take -- you know throw away your anti-depressants. Those still work. And that's been proven as well by these studies. The anti-depressants work very well, and in some cases, they are very necessary for people who have very clinical depression. No one's saying throw those away. But what's important to point out is that Placebo, sugar pills, work pretty well as well and that could be because people are -- believe in them. They believe medications work better than they have in the past and they also -- it's become less stigmatized they have depression and get treatment for depression. So people are out there talking about it. They're getting their psychological counseling in addition to their medication.

HEMMER: So it's another mental game then for some patients then one would think if you're just taking a sugar pill thinking that you're getting the actual prescription that your doctor wrote out for you?

GUPTA: That's right. That's exactly what it is. But if you are a patient out there taking anti-depressants, no one is saying substitute that for the sugar pill. That probably won't have the same effect.

HEMMER: Interesting study though, thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

HEMMER: We'll talk again, Sanjay Gupta. All right.

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