• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Spanish
sb-logo-with-brain
  • Resources
    • Monthly eNewsletter
    • Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle
    • The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness
    • How to evaluate brain training claims
    • Resources at a Glance
  • Brain Teasers
    • Top 25 Brain Teasers & Games for Teens and Adults
    • Brain Teasers for each Cognitive Ability
    • More Mind Teasers & Games for Adults of any Age
  • Virtual Summits
    • 2019 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • Speaker Roster
    • Brainnovations Pitch Contest
    • 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2015 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2014 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
  • Report: Pervasive Neurotechnology
  • Report: Digital Brain Health
  • About
    • Mission & Team
    • Endorsements
    • Public Speaking
    • In the News
    • Contact Us

One size does not fit all: Does the brain ‘remember’ antidepressants?

March 28, 2012 by SharpBrains

Study offers more proof for the pow­er of place­bo, say UCLA researchers (UCLA press release):
— “While the rela­tion­ship between pri­or treat­ment and the brain’s response to sub­se­quent treat­ment is unknown, a new study by UCLA researchers sug­gests that how the brain responds to anti­de­pres­sant med­ica­tion may be influ­enced by its remem­ber­ing of past anti­de­pres­sant exposure.”
— “Sub­jects who had nev­er been treat­ed with an anti­de­pres­sant exhib­it­ed large increas­es in pre­frontal brain activ­i­ty dur­ing place­bo treat­ment. But those who had used anti­de­pres­sant med­ica­tion in the past showed slight decreas­es in pre­frontal activ­i­ty — brain changes that were indis­tin­guish­able from those pro­duced by the actu­al drug.”
— “While med­ica­tion can have a pow­er­ful effect on our phys­i­ol­o­gy, said Hunter, “the behav­iors and cues in the envi­ron­ment that are asso­ci­at­ed with tak­ing med­ica­tion can come to elic­it their own effects. One’s per­son­al treat­ment his­to­ry is one of the many fac­tors that influ­ence the over­all effects of treatment.”

Pre­vi­ous relat­ed arti­cle: Could study­ing the place­bo effect change the way we think about medicine?

New study: Does pri­or anti­de­pres­sant treat­ment of major depres­sion impact brain func­tion dur­ing cur­rent treat­ment? (Euro­pean Neuropsychopharmacology)

Abstract: The rela­tion­ship between pri­or anti­de­pres­sant treat­ment and pre­frontal brain func­tion­al response to sub­se­quent treat­ment with anti­de­pres­sant med­ica­tion or place­bo is unknown. Eighty-nine adults with Major Depres­sive Dis­or­der (MDD), char­ac­ter­ized as anti­de­pres­sant-expe­ri­enced or anti­de­pres­sant-naive, received one week of sin­gle-blind place­bo treat­ment pri­or to eight weeks of ran­dom­ized treat­ment with med­ica­tion (flu­ox­e­tine or ven­lafax­ine; n=47) or place­bo (n=42) in one of three sim­i­lar place­bo-con­trolled tri­als. Brain func­tion was assessed at base­line, end of place­bo lead-in, and dur­ing ran­dom­ized treat­ment using quan­ti­ta­tive elec­troen­cephalog­ra­phy (qEEG). The authors assessed change in pre­frontal theta-band cor­dance (PFC) in anti­de­pres­sant-expe­ri­enced vs. anti­de­pres­sant-naive sub­jects. Treat­ment his­to­ry groups dif­fered sig­nif­i­cant­ly on PFC change dur­ing the place­bo lead-in even when con­trol­ling for clin­i­cal and demo­graph­ic vari­ables (F(1,62)=4.27, p=.04). As assessed in lin­ear mixed mod­els that exam­ined treat­ment his­to­ry (anti­de­pres­sant-expe­ri­enced or anti­de­pres­sant-naive), treat­ment assign­ment (med­ica­tion or place­bo), and their inter­ac­tion as pre­dic­tors, treat­ment his­to­ry also pre­dict­ed PFC change dur­ing the ran­dom­ized phase of treat­ment even when con­trol­ling for pre­treat­ment clin­i­cal and demo­graph­ic and symp­tom improve­ment dur­ing treat­ment (F(1,5o)=5.20, p=.03). The inter­ac­tion was not sig­nif­i­cant. Post hoc analy­ses showed that anti­de­pres­sant-expe­ri­enced sub­jects treat­ed with place­bo showed PFC changes that did not dif­fer from PFC changes seen in the med­ica­tion group. Results sug­gest that pre­frontal brain func­tion­al changes dur­ing treat­ment for MDD may dif­fer depend­ing upon pri­or treat­ment with anti­de­pres­sant medication.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health Tagged With: antidepressants, medicine, placebo, prefrontal, UCLA

Primary Sidebar

Top Articles on Brain Health and Neuroplasticity

  1. Can you grow your hippocampus? Yes. Here’s how, and why it matters
  2. How learning changes your brain
  3. To harness neuroplasticity, start with enthusiasm
  4. Three ways to protect your mental health during –and after– COVID-19
  5. Why you turn down the radio when you're lost
  6. Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle Is the Key to Self-Empowered Aging
  7. Ten neu­rotech­nolo­gies about to trans­form brain enhance­ment & health
  8. Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital, pervasive and (hopefully) bright
  9. What Educators and Parents Should Know About Neuroplasticity and Dance
  10. The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains
  11. Six tips to build resilience and prevent brain-damaging stress
  12. Can brain training work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
  13. What are cognitive abilities and how to boost them?
  14. Eight Tips To Remember What You Read
  15. Twenty Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity and Improve Brain Health

Top 10 Brain Teasers and Illusions

  1. You think you know the colors? Try the Stroop Test
  2. Check out this brief attention experiment
  3. Test your stress level
  4. Guess: Are there more brain connections or leaves in the Amazon?
  5. Quick brain teasers to flex two key men­tal mus­cles
  6. Count the Fs in this sentence
  7. Can you iden­tify Apple’s logo?
  8. Ten classic optical illu­sions to trick your mind
  9. What do you see?
  10. Fun Mental Rotation challenge
  • Check our Top 25 Brain Teasers, Games and Illusions

Join 12,620 readers exploring, at no cost, the latest in neuroplasticity and brain health.

By subscribing you agree to receive our free, monthly eNewsletter. We don't rent or sell emails collected, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

IMPORTANT: Please check your inbox or spam folder in a couple minutes and confirm your subscription.

Get In Touch!

Contact Us

660 4th Street, Suite 205,
San Francisco, CA 94107 USA

About Us

SharpBrains is an independent market research firm tracking health and performance applications of brain science. We prepare general and tailored market reports, publish consumer guides, produce an annual global and virtual conference, and provide strategic advisory services.

© 2022 SharpBrains. All Rights Reserved - Privacy Policy