* Putting the placebo effect to work
   placebo effect to work
Putting the placebo effect to work
   Rather than dismiss it, we should try to understand the placebo effect
   For a long time, the placebo effect was held in low regard. If people
   responded to a suspect treatment, we said it was "just the placebo
   Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter, have deepened
   the understanding of the placebo effect and its various components.
   that there may be a physiological explanation for the placebo effect in
   placebo effect could be used to justify useless treatments. But more
   important is the growing recognition that what we call the placebo
   effect may involve changes in brain chemistry — and that the placebo
   Arriving at a tidy definition of the placebo effect is difficult, but
   factors. The placebo effect may also have an element of psychological
   There's also evidence that some of the placebo effect is a favorable
   Harvard's placebo studies program published a study in 2008 that
   absence of any discernible changes to the bowel. The placebo treatment
   penetrating the skin. The placebo effect of the sham acupuncture
   the placebo effect got even larger, with 62% reporting relief from
   The placebo effect is most pronounced and relevant when a treatment's
   Journal of Medicine showed that the placebo effect may influence one
   used to treat asthma, with two different inactive treatments, a placebo
   both the placebo inhaler and the sham acupuncture when an objective
   albuterol and the placebos performed equally well.
   Research is showing that the placebo effect often seems to be
   pain studies are given placebos. Research results indicate that
   measurable changes in brain chemistry may explain the large placebo
   the disease, placebos have increased the production of dopamine.
   surveyed about prescribing placebos. Only a small percentage had ever
   prescribed "pure" placebos like sugar pills or saline solutions. But
   relievers or vitamins as placebos, not because they believed these
   Dr. Ted Kaptchuk, director of the Harvard placebo program, and
   colleagues have conducted "open-label" placebo studies, in which
   patients were told they were taking a placebo and that the placebo
   and his colleagues found that an open-label placebo still produced a
   placebo effect and was about 20% more effective than no treatment.
   with patients, informing them that a prescription is mainly for placebo
   We're a long way from fully understanding the placebo effect. But here
   Make sure you're getting the support you need from your doctor. Placebo
   the placebo effect to peddle treatments that are useless, and even