Placebo
hideA placebo is a sham medical intervention. In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert sugar pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition; and this belief does indeed sometimes have a therapeutic effect, causing the patient's condition to improve. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect.
Placebos are widely used in medicine, and the placebo effect is a pervasive phenomenon; in fact, it is part of the response to any active medication. However, the deceptive nature of the placebo creates tension between the Hippocratic Oath and the honesty of the doctor-patient relationship. The placebo effect points to the importance of perception and the brain's role in physical health.
Since the publication of Henry K. Beecher's The Powerful Placebo in 1955 the phenomenon has been considered to have clinically important effects. This view was notably challenged when in 2001 a systematic review of clinical trials concluded that there was no evidence of clinically important effects, except perhaps in the treatment of pain and continuous subjective outcomes. The article received a flurry of criticism, but the authors later published a Cochrane review with similar conclusions. Most studies have attributed the difference from baseline till the end of the trial to a placebo effect, but the reviewers examined studies which had both placebo and untreated groups in order to distinguish the placebo effect from the natural progression of the disease.
For more information about Placebo, read the full article at
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News tagged with placebo
Study confirms that cannabis is beneficial for multiple sclerosis
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 04, 2009 |
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Cannabis can reduce spasticity in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. A systematic review, published in the open access journal BMC Neurology, found that five out six randomized controlled trials reported a reduction in spa ...
Can heart disease treatments combat AMD?
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Can treatments that reduce risks for cardiovascular disease (CVD) also help combat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an eye disease that affects millions of Americans? CVD and AMD share some risk factors-such as smoking, ...
Does a placebo gene exist?
Nov 30, 2009 |
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A short time ago, Swedish scientists published a paper suggesting the existence of a genetic disposition to respond to placebo, thus giving rise to debate in the media about a possible "placebo gene." In the current issue ...
Over-the-counter eye drops raise concern over antibiotic resistance
Medicine & Health / Medications
Nov 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The use of antibiotic eye drops for conjunctivitis has increased by almost half since they became available over the counter at chemists in 2005, data obtained by Oxford University researchers ...
Vaccine being developed to help smokers quit
Medicine & Health / Medications
Nov 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Glaxo-SmithKline has joined forces with Nabi Pharmaceuticals to produce a vaccine to help smokers give up their addiction permanently.
Researchers to test first gene therapy For Alzheimer's patients
Nov 17, 2009 |
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Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of 12 sites nationwide participating in the first Phase 2 clinical trial to test gene therapy treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The study is the first multicenter neurosurgical intervention ...
The narrow line between love and jealousy
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 12, 2009 |
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A new study carried out at the University of Haifa has found that the hormone oxytocin, the "love hormone", which affects behaviors such as trust, empathy and generosity, also affects opposite behaviors, such as jealousy ...
Experts: Placebo power behind many natural cures
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(AP) -- People looking for natural cures will be happy to know there is one. Two words explain how it works: "I believe." It's the placebo effect - the ability of a dummy pill or a faked treatment to make people feel better, ...
In Between Mind-Body Split: Chronic Pain Relief
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 19, 2009 |
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The Placebo effect has long been recognized as a factor in determining the efficacy of various medical intervention therapies. A newly published study, "Direct Evidence for Spinal Cord Involvement in Placebo Analgesia"*, ...
Effects of aspirin and folic acid on inflammation markers for colorectal adenomas
Oct 12, 2009 |
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Unexpectedly, inflammation markers do not appear to be involved with the chemopreventative effect of aspirin on colorectal adenomas, according to a brief communication published online October 12 in the Journal of the Na ...
Breast tenderness during hormone replacement therapy linked to elevated cancer risk
Oct 12, 2009 |
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Women who developed new-onset breast tenderness after starting estrogen plus progestin hormone replacement therapy were at significantly higher risk for developing breast cancer than women on the combination therapy who didn't ...
Triple therapy halves exacerbations in moderate-to-severe COPD (w/ Podcast)
Oct 08, 2009 |
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Patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can benefit from triple therapy that includes a long-acting β-agonist (LABA), an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and an anti-muscarinic agent, ...
New biologic drug is effective against rheumatoid arthritis
Oct 06, 2009 |
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Abatacept, a member of a new class of drug that targets immune cells to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is effective against RA, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. The review examines recent trials to assess ...
Antidepressant and placebo are equally effective in child pain relief
Oct 01, 2009 |
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When used "off-label," the antidepressant amitriptyline works just as well as placebo in treating pain-predominant gastrointestinal disorders in children, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journa ...
3 Questions: AIDS researchers on new vaccine results
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Sep 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- On Thursday, an international research team reported that a new AIDS vaccine tested in more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand protected a small but significant minority against infection. The ...
