[BigBubbleButt]

> Quite frankly, the pills work.

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I had a seizure because of medication I was put on for a mental illness I didn't believe I had. I wasn't 18 and my parents essentially forced me to take them. The pills didn't do anything for me besides give me a seizure that easily could've killed me (I was hospitalized).

There's also actual research suggesting these pills can increase suicide attempts.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353604/

There is enormous money to be made suggesting these pills are useful, so I don't just assume it to be true. I also know many other people who feel anti-depressants ruined their lives. I also know many people who feel anti-depressants saved their lives.

It's not black and white. Personally, I feel the efficacy of pills for mental health are greatly exaggerated - but it's easy to see why I might be biased.

[jedimastert]

> a mental illness I didn't believe I had

I don't know your personal journey, but I think it would be fairly easy to find people with very deep, very real mental health problems who fully believe they do not have a problem.

> The pills didn't do anything for me

Again, I don't know your personal journey, but as a counter anecdote when I started taking medication I couldn't tell if they were having any effect at all, but apparently it had such an effect that some of the people around me could tell me the day I started taking it, along with measurable improvements.

Not to invalidate your experiences, just adding to the anecdotal pool

[OpticalWindows]

Also the placebo effect is right on their heels in terms of effectiveness

[lazyasciiart]

Can the placebo exist without the "real" pills? More practically, does anyone prescribe placebo outside of a clinical trial?

[Reelin]

Yes. It is the same real, measurable response you would get from an effective medication even though no medication was given. In many cases the rate at which placebo occurs is surprisingly high. (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/306437)

[lazyasciiart]

I know what placebos are. But the effect is created by telling the patient you gave them medication. So I don't believe it's possible to make "treatment by placebo" a standard.

[manquer]

Homeopathic treatment is largely placebo.

A board certified doc will never prescribe placebo he will get sued, plenty of ppl are getting them via alternative medicine though