“Summary: A new study sheds light on the significant role of patients’ beliefs in the effectiveness of neurostimulation treatments for conditions like depression and ADHD. Analyzing five studies, the research team found that patients’ perceptions of receiving real or placebo treatments often had more impact on outcomes than the treatments themselves.
This effect varied across studies, with patient beliefs sometimes fully explaining the results, interacting with the treatment, or having no influence at all.
These findings highlight the need to consider and record patients’ beliefs in clinical research, suggesting that this could be a key factor in treatment efficacy across various medical fields.”