Placebo Response in Psychotic Depression

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Sir: I read with interest the report by Simpson et al.¹ in theMay 2005 issue of the Journal. While it is always gratifyingto learn of the practical applications of one’s research,^2,3 theauthors may be overinterpreting the significance of their openlabelobservations on the basis of a misconception of the placeboresponse in psychotic depression. The authors comparedtheir observations with 2 historical studies^4,5 that found "a lowplacebo response rate with psychotic depression."^1(p601)‘ ‹