Cover Image: February 2009 Scientific American Magazine See Inside

Placebo Effect: A Cure in the Mind [Preview]

   Belief is powerful medicine, even if the treatment itself is a sham.
   New research shows placebos can also benefit patients who do not have
   faith in them

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     * In recent decades reports have confirmed the efficacy of various
       sham treatments in nearly all areas of medicine. Placebos have
       helped alleviate pain, depression, anxiety, Parkinson’s disease,
       inflammatory disorders and even cancer.
     * Placebo effects can arise not only from a conscious belief in a
       drug but also from subconscious associations between recovery and
       the experience of being treated—from the pinch of a shot to a
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       bodily processes of which we are unaware, such as immune responses
       and the release of hormones.
     * Researchers have decoded some of the biology of placebo responses,
       demonstrating that they stem from active processes in the brain.

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