Are placebo-controlled trials still important for obsessive compulsive disorder?

The use of placebos as reference agents in randomised controlled trials for psychiatric disorders has come under question for ethical reasons. Alternative methods for validating the efficacy of new treatments exist, but may not be as reliable as placebo. In this paper we examine arguments for and against the ongoing use of placebo agents in the development of new treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder in the context of evidence from randomised controlled trials.