Expectancy effects on serotonin and dopamine transporters during SSRI treatment of social anxiety disorder: a randomized clinical trial.

ABSTRACT: It has been extensively debated whether selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are more efficacious than placebo in affective disorders, and it is not fully understood how SSRIs exert their beneficial effects. Along with serotonin transporter blockade, altered dopamine signaling and psychological factors may contribute. In this randomized clinical trial of participants with social anxiety disorder (SAD) we investigated how manipulation of verbally-induced expectancies, vital for placebo response, affect brain monoamine transporters and symptom improvement during SSRI treatment. Twenty-seven participants with SAD (17 men, 10 women), were randomized, to 9 weeks of overt or covert treatment with escitalopram 20 mg. The overt group received correct treatment information whereas the co

SUBMITTER: Hjorth OR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8566580 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature