Experimental procedure
somatic illness, psychiatric, somatic disease
After participants gave their written informed consent to take part, they underwent screening for somatic illness including a medical examination, blood screening for somatic disease, an ECG, and screening for the presence of psychiatric conditions using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Danish translation version 6.0.0 [Participants received oral and verbal instructions by blinded medical personnel for taking escitalopram including possible side effects. They were instructed to, in the morning, take 10 mg daily for three days and 20 mg daily from the fourth day until the last day of examination when the participants were scheduled for the cognitive visit and MRI scanning. The MRI analysis is presented in a separate article. Prior to the cognitive visit, the participants completed several self-report questionnaires to evaluate their psychological state.To verify treatment compliance, the capsule container was inspected at visits and a blood sample was taken from the participants both at the halfway point and at the cognitive visit, typically in the morning (Fig. Participants were instructed to take the drug capsule after the blood sample, to ensure measurement of steady-state serum escitalopram levels. At the cognitive visit, participants completed a number of neuropsychological tests and repeated a set of the questionnaires. After the cognitive visit participants were instructed to take 10 mg daily for five days and then discontinue use. One week after the cognitive visit, participants completed the final set of questionnaires. A medical professional was involved in participant oversight and regular contact was made.At the end of the study, participants were asked whether they thought they received escitalopram or placebo. In response, 53% of participants in the escitalopram group correctly guessed that they received escitalopram, whereas 15.6% of participants in the placebo group guessed they received escitalopram. Comparison of the two groups showed a significant difference in the ability to correctly detect group membership (