Introduction
anxiety, elevated psychological distress, depressive symptoms, depressive disorder, OLP, psychiatric, depressed mood, MDD
DISORDERS
For university students, elevated psychological distress (e.g., emotional suffering, stress, anxiety, depressed mood) has been reported, with prevalence rates up to 80%While there is robust experimental evidenceTo date, there are only two intervention studies investigating OLP effects on stress, psychological distress and emotional well-being in students. Kleine-Borgmann et al.Treating highly stressed students is not only relevant for assessing OLP interventions as a potential alternative to active medications for reducing psychological distress. Elevated psychological distress and stress is a risk factor for severe psychiatric disorders including major depressionCurrently, there are three OLP treatment studies in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). In a feasibility study, Kelley et al.Several mechanisms identified in experimental deceptive placebo research, such as physician–patient interaction, associative learning and treatment expectancy are presumed to at least partially account for the OLP effect as wellThe aim of this study was to determine to what extent the effectiveness of an OLP intervention for reducing psychological distress might depend on the pharmaceutical form of the OLP and simulated side effects. Specifically, an OLP nasal spray and an OLP capsule were compared, which differ not only with regard to their sensory features, but possibly also with regard to their familiarity depending on the number of previous treatment experiences and the type and range of symptoms having been targeted by such forms of medication. Moreover, an active vs. a passive nasal spray were compared, thus allowing the role of distinct sensations, presumably indicating the onset of the treatment effect, to be delineated. Using an analogue sample approach, and based on previous reports of high correlations between stress and depressive symptoms in students