Placebo treatment was meaningless

doi:10.1136/bmj.310.6989.1267a

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Liam Smeeth

Senior house officer Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Royal Free Hospital, London NW3 2QG

EDITOR,—Describing the design of their study, L M Mynors-Wallis and colleagues state that they compared “(a) problem solving; (b) amitriptyline with standard clinical management; and (c) drug placebo with standard clinical management.”1 The patients in the second two groups, however, were seen by therapists who were under strict instructions with regard to the type of interventions they could make. The therapists were instructed to avoid specific psychological interventions, in particular problem solving treatment. If …