The failure rate of clinical studies in depression is high, and placebo response is often blamed. In this article, Dr. Jack Modell, a board certified psychiatrist with more than 35 years of experience in clinical research and patient care, discusses why there is more to the story than placebo response, including:
•Inclusion of subjects that have depressive symptoms, but don’t truly meet the criteria for major depressive disorder
•The reliability of human raters
•Properly defined study objectives