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Definition:
The word placebo is Latin for "I will please," and the placebo effect has been
known for centuries as the ability of some treatments with no medical value to have a
positive effect on a person's health so long as they believe that the treatment
does have value.
Traditionally, placebos have been sugar pills and given to people in place of real medications. This is done, for example, in double-blind clinical trials of new medicines to see if the medications do any better than placebos. If the placebos produce improvement for 30% of patients and the medication produces improvement in 31% of patients, then it probably does not do anything significant. Very often, the anecdotal reports of the benefits of various pseudoscientific alternative medicines can be attributed to the placebo effect.
How does the placebo effect work? Some argue that the mind itself has healing powers - thus, when you think you are getting a medicine, your mind works even harder to help you get better. Others argue that there is no real "placebo effect" and that what we perceive is simply the natural healing process taking its course. Recent studies demonstrating an observable and measurable effect in the brain on those who receive placebos, but which is different from those who receive real medication, indicates that whatever role it this plays may be small.
There may also be, curiously enough, a nocebo effect - the creation of pain, illness and more because of suggestion. Research on this is scanty, but suggestive. One study caused asthma attacks in asthmatic patients after they were given nebulized saltwater which they though was an irritant. They got better after they were treated with the same saltwater, this time told that it was a medicine. In Japan, boys who reported having severe allergic reactions to lacquer trees were blindfolded and told they were being rubbed with leaves from a chestnut tree (when they were actually being rubbed with leaves from a laquer tree) and vice-versa. Most of those who thought they got the chestnut leaves had no reaction. Those who thought they got laquer leaves had a severe allergic reaction.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
What is Alternative Medicine?
There's an awful lot in the news and in society about "alternative medicines" these days. By some estimates, it's an industry doing between $15 and $20 billion annually - and growing! But what is alternative medicine - how does it differ from scientific medicine and why do people use it?Skepticism & Critical Thinking
This is the main index for issues dealing with skepticism, critical thinking, logic and arguments. The first section is Critical Thinking itself - how to think about claims and arguments you hear, how to critique arguments, and how to formulate your own arguments such that they are more likely to be sound and valid. The second section is about Skeptical Investigations - the practical application of the critical thinking skills covered in the first section. Here you will find critiques of things like astrology, alternative medicine, parapsychology, the New Age and more.
