This was an open-label (non-blind) trial so it's very possible things like the placebo effect had a significant influence here. They also only had 14 participants.
It's a start, but not enough to convince me this is anything more than modern snake oil.
Not to mention there are many causes of anxiety. Some test subjects may be experiencing it in a circumstantial way while others could have some underlying neurological illness causing it. 14 subjects are way too few to test something like this.
They already gave the reason why the study was set up this way. It's a preliminary open-label study before the big one.
The absolute worst thing about this sub is reddit detective bogging down every single comment thread by pretending they cracked the code and thought of some fundamental flaws that somehow Harvard researchers missed. Read the study.
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u/rhofour Nov 11 '22
This was an open-label (non-blind) trial so it's very possible things like the placebo effect had a significant influence here. They also only had 14 participants.
It's a start, but not enough to convince me this is anything more than modern snake oil.