"The Surprising Rise of the Placebo Effect in Depression Treatment Trials"

A new study has found that the placebo effect for antidepressant treatments, specifically transcranial magnetic stimulation, appears to be growing stronger over time. The study, which analyzed over 2,700 individual studies on transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression treatment, revealed that placebos consistently showed improvements in participants' conditions, although the actual treatment had a larger effect. The researchers also found that the placebo effect and the impact of the actual treatment increased in parallel over time, suggesting that changes in study design and the believability of the placebo may be influencing the results.