What Makes Psychiatric Medicines Work?

There is, in medicine, a concept called The Placebo Effect. A pill with no active ingredients is a 'placebo.'

Real medicine used to treat psychiatric conditions like anxiety, thought and mood disorders is chemically formulated to impact the neurochemistry of the human brain. No doubt, the right medicine for the right condition can and does help. On the other hand, there is more at work than chemistry in the success of any particular medicine with an individual patient.

In research studies of medications, a 'control group' of people is usually given a placebo without their knowledge so as to compare the outcomes with those in the study who have been given the actual medicine. The results are no longer surprising except in that they are remarkably consistent. Placebos tend to work about as well as actual pharmaceuticals for many problems - especially psychological/psychiatric ones. The Placebo Effect.

In most healing arts, whether medical or non-medical, the attitude and beliefs of the patient make an important difference. Many would argue that these are, in fact, the most important variables in determining whether or not an intervention is apt to be successful.

I have a personal example of this phenomenon. When I feel a cold coming on, I begin to take large doses of both Vitamin C and Echinacea. I have done this for years and, by my own reckoning, this stops or softens the blow of the oncoming cold symptoms. While there is a little evidence supporting the action of the Vitamin C, there is little if any to reinforce the idea that Echinacea does any good whatever. None-the-less, I continue to follow this regimen whenever I feel a cold or flu coming on.

Clinical evidence or the lack thereof notwithstanding, I believe in this intervention and, son-of-a-gun, it works for me. I don't really care about the results with hundreds (or even thousands) of others in controlled studies. I care about feeling better when I am beginning to come down with something.

I do not think that I am unique in this regard.

While the research, for example, on St. John's Wart as a useful treatment for depression has remained quite mixed (you can easily find evidence either to validate or debunk its usefulness), many people swear by it and regard it as a somehow healthier intervention that prescribed drugs. The use of homeopathic remedies is often also seen as being somehow inherently safer and healthier than doctor prescribed formulations. To the extent that a person truly believes what they are taking will help them, whatever it is becomes more likely to help.

There is no argument but that no matter what the research findings are, what people believe will determine what they use and, to a large degree, to what extent what they use helps them.

Belief and faith are intertwined. This powerful force cannot and should not be ignored by medicine but taken into account when determining how to best be of help to someone. What people believe in is what they will accept. That which someone will not or cannot accept is not apt to be of much help to them.