The placebo effect

The placebo effect is defined as a physical or emotional change, occurring after a substance is taken or administered, that is not the result of any special property of the substance. The change may be beneficial, reflecting the expectations of the participant and, often, the expectations of the person giving the substance.


In other words, this means, for example, that there are doctors who proscribe their patients drugs with no healing properties(like sugar pills), but the patient who takes them believes he is taking real medicine, and he experiences improvements in his health.


What do you think about it?

I think its a good way of treating illness. I mean, it needs to be over a short period of time, so that if symptoms continue, the person knows to seek further medical help.

Conversely, I've had anti-anxiety medicine for my fear of flying, which I strongly suspect was a placebo. It seriously did nothing. However, that might just be that it didn't work for me.

Placebos are also used in testing new medicines. Some testers receive the real medicine, others receive a placebo, so that the effects can be compared.

^^you made a good point.

Not only that placebos can be used in testing new medicines, but they have no harmful effects on our body, technically, they have no effect on our body whatsoever.

But, the patients, they have no idea that the drug they're taking is a placebo and it kind of seems unethical to me, because there are times placebo therapy is unable to help them.

Generally speaking, I'm all for it, but there are some minor things I disagree with.

I think it's an excellent way to treat health problems that are not so serious.

I always get car sick and, one time, while I was on a road trip with my school a friend of mine got car sick too. I wanted to help her so I gave her a necklace I was wearing and told her that it had helped me feel better because it had bioenergy or something. She put it on and, half an hour later, she was feeling great. I was actually surprised that it worked.

That is great, it fascinates me how our own beliefs can help us with our health.

Hey, its just like when mummy "kisses it better" or someone puts "pixie dust" on a cut when you're a kid. Its just updated for older people, who have less capacity for pretending or are less gullible.

I mean, obviously these things have their limits. Also, for some things there really is no treatment, you've just got to sit it out. I'm not talking terminal stuff, but if you've got something minor and there really is nothing the doctor can do for it, you've just got to deal with it, thinking you're being treated is probably beneficial.

Another question: do placebos decrease the average price of "real" medicine? I mean, think about it, you'd have to pay a similar price or you'd get wise. But production costs must be less. So where does that money go? Or does it just increase profits? Anyone know?

i'm not sure, but i'll look it up for you and post the results later.....that's an interesting question....

Okay, I found loads of stuff on it, but none on the financial issues...I believe placebos are proscribed as real drugs because if the patient know the drug is a plecebo, the placebo won't have any effect on him.

I copy-pasted some interesting facts about it:

-Whether you regard it as an annoyance or a miracle, you have to marvel at the power of suggestion. When doctors test a new medical treatment, they conclude that it works only when patients who receive it fare significantly better than those given a fake treatment, or placebo. That's because many people feel better no matter which one they receive. Skeptics often dismiss responses to complementary and alternative therapies as "mere" placebo effects. And until recently, experts have paid the placebo effect only grudging respect, some insisting that people who experience it must have simply misperceived either their illness or their recovery. Most doctors and scientists, however, believe the placebo effect exists. And though its dynamics are still something of a mystery, its power is now hard to deny. Recent studies suggest that the placebo effect not only exists but may be caused by changes in the physiology of the brain.


-the placebo effect can be better understood as an effect of the relationship between doctor and patient. Adding the doctor's caring to medical care affects the patient's experience of treatment, reduces pain, and may affect outcome. This survey makes it clear that doctors continue to use placebos, and most think they help."

- * Critics of the practice responded that it is unethical to prescribe treatments that don't work, and that telling a patient that a placebo is a real medication is deceptive and harms the doctor-patient relationship in the long run. Critics also argued that using placebos can delay the proper diagnosis and treatment of serious medical conditions.

* Defenders of the use of placebos suggested that placebos do not work in clinical trials because the subjects know they might be getting a placebo, but do work in medical practice where the patient believes she is getting an active drug. Other writers pointed to the empirical data showing that placebos can have measurable biological effects, especially in pain relief (see above), or argued that the use of a placebo to "please the patient" fosters real healing as part of a caring doctor-patient relationship.


The question is - IS PLACEBO EFFECT EVEN REAL?

I'm for it. I believe it is okay to prescribe it. I'm sure it might prevent addiction, and in a way its not really medicine. Its kind of like will power or something.

Personally, I wouldn't mind if my doctor prescribed a placebo. If it doesn't work, people need to go back to their doctor. But thats the same as any drug: if its making any noticable difference after a few days, you probably need to tell your doctor anyway.

I see the point about missing major health problems, but that seems unlikely to me. I don't know any facts and figures (if I find anything, I'll get back to you), but there should obviously limits of the use of placebos.

I think the placebo effect works. I mean, I'm terrible at biology, but I think that if you can suggest to someone that they feel better, unless something is seriously wrong, they probably will.

my nana would never sleep without demanding a sleeping tablet, so my mom used to go out of the room, pretend she was getting one off the nurse and give my nana a tic tac instead, and she used to doze right off then! i think its a good way to treat things

Nothing is 100% effective, even if they are prescription drugs. A lot of drugs for minor illnesses aren't particularly effective anyway.

wow, it sounds pretty good. It just proves that a lot of things to do with our body are controlled by our mind. Its really phychological of how we work

Ha.
I think that this is true. The whole Placebo effect.
Sure, you're lying to the patient..........but it's for their own good!
(if it works)
Plus, I think most problems/pains are psychological anyways.
...........
Placebos would work great on Paranoid people.

I'm all for it! I took myself off my Arthritis medication and now i take natural stuff because i hated all those chemicals i was pumping into my body. You can make your mind believe anything if you just keep trying or you believe hard enough, i have heard numerous instances where the people on placebo's get better at the same rate that others on real medication do.
BUT at the same time if you are seriously ill, dont stop taking medication that can save your life, its too dangerous.

I think is Placebos work in the end, then it's a case of the ends justifying the means.

for some reason, I find them a little cruel. It kinda seems like the doctor is tricking the patient. like ha ha, you weren't really sick, you silly little person you.

but I know that's just the defensive side of me. I can tell you that if I found out that I was taking a placebo instead of my real medicine, I'd be completely embarrased.

but I can see how if it works in the end, it is better than getting them addicted to some drug they don't necessarily need...and there can't be any harmful side affects on the body from a placebo, so I guess if it comes down to it, the placebo would probably be the better choice than unnecessary medicine...

i think this has already been a topic in here but i could be wrong

MistressRhi:

I'm all for it! I took myself off my Arthritis medication and now i take natural stuff because i hated all those chemicals i was pumping into my body. You can make your mind believe anything if you just keep trying or you believe hard enough, i have heard numerous instances where the people on placebo's get better at the same rate that others on real medication do.
BUT at the same time if you are seriously ill, dont stop taking medication that can save your life, its too dangerous.

whats a 23 yr old doing with arthritis anyhow?
sucks for somebody so young to have whats normally considered an "old persons" disease
ah im just mocking myself here since i have arthritis and im 23 too lol what natural stuff do you take? at the moment im on prescription painkillers and valium for when it gets real bad