In a recent study, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) found that optimism predicted response to antidepressant drugs. The researchers measured both baseline (pre-treatment) optimism and changes in optimism over time. They found that both of these measures correlated with antidepressant drug response.
“Our results suggest that baseline optimism and increases in optimism during treatment are associated with increased likelihood of SSRI treatment response in MDD,” the researchers write.
The study was led by Ari S. Coopersmith and published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.
The researchers expand upon a number of explanations for this finding, including theorizing about how antidepressants may chemically interact with the unknown, hypothetical biological causes of optimism. However, they ultimately acknowledge the role of the placebo effect.
Their takeaway is not that antidepressant drug use should be questioned. Instead, they write, now that we know the drugs work via the placebo effect, clinicians should “manage patients’ expectations” so that the placebo effect is stronger when they take the drug. They suggest adding positive psychology therapies on to antidepressant drug treatment—which they believe will increase patients’ “optimism” and thus improve the drug effect.
“Managing patients’ expectations may be an important part of clinical care,” they write, adding that “it is possible that psychological therapies aimed at increasing optimism (e.g. positive CBT) may augment antidepressant responses.”
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