Revisiting the SSRI vs. Placebo Debate in Social Anxiety Treatment
How much of SSRI benefits for social anxiety are real vs. placebo?
SSRIs show approximately 85-90% improvement when patients know they’re taking medication, but only 60-70% when given covertly, suggesting expectancy effects account for about half of the treatment benefit. A series of neuroimaging studies with 72-46 social anxiety disorder patients published in Frontiers in Psychology found that while both SSRI and placebo responders show equal reductions in amygdala activity, SSRIs produce distinct neurochemical changes and 57% of SSRI patients respond vs. 30% of placebo patients.