Can there be a reverse placebo effect?

That is possible, though I haven’t heard of a reverse placebo effect before.
But after googling, I found this website. Apparently such a phenomenon does exist.

I would think there can be. Placebo effects are based on the person being psychosomatic.
If you think your side effects will wear off when you stop taking it, depending of the nature of the side effect, you will probably see some improvement, even if it’s only your perception that has changed.
It’s just as likely as taking a placebo will help you with a problem.
(Again, it depends on what you think the pill is going to do)

I feel as though just taking extra vitamin C when I’m feeling a little sick helps me feel better, even before the body should be receiving the benefits. I’m not actually less sick, but I might be subconsciously thinking I’m getting better from that point on.

Is it possible yes. Is it also possible that you didn’t need the medication any more and that it just was making you blah? Yes as well.

Yes, I think there can be though I don’t think your example is one of reverse placebo effect..in that, I think, the medication wasn’t the right one for you.

If you are feeling considerably better, but still feeling depressed, you should let your doctor know straight away. If you are no longer feeling depressed… well, damn, good for you! :)

What has happened is that you have taken an anti-depression medicine for several years, and you finally stopped taking it, and you’re surprised you feel better?
Anti-depression drugs aren’t meant to be permanent. If you have dealt with the reasons you went on the drug, you will feel much better off them.
I was on Paxel for, I think, 18 months. When I quit, I felt much better, because I had dealt with all the shit that was backing up on me. I occasionally went back on it for a short time, to beat other issues that were upsetting me, but I never expected to be on it for a long, long time.
Remember, these medicines not only supress bad feelings, they also supress good ones.

I’m pretty sure there could easily be a reverse placebo effect. The mind is powerful and when we take it in our mind to dislike something, that can be very powerful.

Having said that, I would like to point out that it is well known that anti-depressants change in their effects over time. They can work for a while—years, perhaps—and then stop working. Body chemistry changes over time. So it might be that the med stopped working for physiological reasons, not mental ones. Or for both reasons.

The key with drugs aimed at changing brain chemistry is to stay in touch with your psychiatrist regularly. At least twice a year. Report any changes. It may be time to change meds. You may need to come off the med. Or replace it with something (or some things) else.

It is also possible, I believe, to learn to manage your depression on your own, and to stop relying on meds. I believe in meds, but I don’t think they have to be forever. In fact, my goal is to get off them entirely, at some point. I have recently removed one med. I have been experiencing some small ups and downs, but I believe I can remain relatively stable, and respond fairly effectively to life’s changes.

I wish you the best in achieving your mental health goals. Just remember, mental health is a serious thing. 20% of people with bipolar disorder die of the condition. One in five. That is nothing to sneeze at and a mortality rate like that should give everyone with the condition pause.

Depression is considered, by some professionals, to be the same as bipolar, only without the highs. This is not something to mess with lightly. Watch yourself carefully. If you are getting in too deep and losing perspective and believing this is the end, get your ass to a professional ASAP!!!

By the way, anti-depressants can be permanent. It all depends on the person. Depression is a chronic ailment. It always needs treatment, whether by meds or by psychological tools. Anti-depressants are meant to help, for as long as they are helpful. There is no “use by” date for anti-depressants.

Anti-depressants were never originally designed for long term use. They were supposed to be a part of an over-all mental health program which included therapy by a therapist or a Doctor.

The problem happened when new class drugs allowed doctors to prescribe pills in place of reconstructive practices and cognizant behavior changes. They kind of punked out and left it all up to the meds less the behavioral adjustments and kind of left many people to their own devices…

From what I hear you’re saying, your liver was probably happy for the break, and it healed you less the meds that actually inhibit natural healing in place of chemicals in the first place.

You might be surprised what the human body might evolve into being able to do for itself less all the witchdoctors and their magical potions.

I think of the placebo effect more as being the perception that any change (the addition or subtraction of a medication, for instance) is helping you even if it’s not, so in that way what you described would still fall under the placebo effect. I think. Unless, of course, the medication truly was harming you, in which case cutting it out really helped and there’s no placebo effect at all.

I would think that the reverse placebo effect would have a similar psychological mechanism to the placebo effect itself. You might believe you are being poisoned so that when it ceases to be administered you feel better even if what you thought was poison was entirely harmless.

Anti depressants are not placebos however and they affect the mind, not always in a good way. If you are feeling better since you stopped taking them the effect will likely be real and not simply psychological.