So I think the title explains it all so I'll just put a poll below and yep that's pretty much it.
Does Placebo Actually Work
Comments
Yep. The Chiropractor made all my back pains go away :)
I'm sure she did…..
Taking the piss on whether or not a chiropractor actually works. Certainly helped in my case.
Headology is a powerful drug.
Headology. Sponsored by those "grow ten inches" ads from Adult Sites.
Research has shown that placebo does work. This is a good documentary on placebo:
BBC Horizon 2015 The Power of the Placebo. Pretty sure this was shown sometime back on one of the tv channels. Cannot find a better quality version of this on youtube, but it is the complete programme.What is fascinating is that the placebo might work, even if one knows it is a placebo.
Thank you! :-)
It's actually the same quality, it just appears to be better due to the placebo effect of being told it's a better quality version!
its situational…
for minor non serious things , sure it might work on most people for a while.
for anything serious , you might get some positive results at first , but then it would ware off ( e.g. chronic pain/ cancer / infections )Oh yes, of course, if you are talking about serious conditions like cancer and infections.
I would be interesting in the source of your information.
I am currently involved with a study looking at a new drug and a placebo and their effects on stage 4 breast cancer.
A link to your source would be very useful.Hey, if there are any news/articles on this, or even any preliminary results of your study that has been published, would appreciate links. Immensely interested in this subject. Thanks.
I believe in the nocebo effect
Wow, umm okay?
There is no question that a placebo works better than no treatment.
Savas is talking about the very interesting opposite, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoceboOne example might be people who are 'allergic' to wi-fi.
Why yes, yes I do.
LOL
You created that username in preparation for this one time when it is perfect
Works more often than it doesn't, statistically.
Best people to ask are the idiots literally pissing their money away on excessive protein drinks & other supplements…
lol you had to choose the one useful example..
and don't forget homeopathy
Depending on the condition, placebos can work in a certain percentage of patients.
High response rates can be reported from placebo treatments in conditions that are mainly self-reported, such as pain, depression, and anxiety.
Less so for conditions that has a actual clinical measurement unit such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, tumour size.Also to be considered are the presence of confounding factors. Am I feeling better and more energetic because of the supplements, or because I've also changed my lifestyle around to eat healthier, sleep better, or smoke less?
It works if you want it to.
There is a good amount of scientific trial evidence to show that placebos do work. Interetingly it still works even if you know it's a placebo. Ie if I told you that I'm going to inject you with some saline and it'll make you feel less pain, it works.
The more dramatic the whole "treatment" is, the better it works.
If your problem has a psychological component, then it works. Otherwise, no.
Stress induced problems such as hypertension, headaches, and fatigue are good examples where placebos can "work".
Problems without psychological components such as osteoarthritis, tuberculosis, broken bones, death… placebos do not work there.
What is your source for this please?
I see from your comments you're an academic as such, I respect the question but I'll be abrupt.
You should first question how a placebo works. Can it possibly have a direct chemical/physical/physiological influence? Rhetorical question. No. If it does, it is no longer classed as a placebo. Hence, by definition, it is only psychological.
A placebo that has a physiological influence, by it's very definition (sources abundant), can no longer be a placebo.
You share a common misconception about placebos.
I will give an example.
A group of woman who had previously had their breast cancer effectively controlled start showing symptoms 10-15 years later. The cancer has mutated from one type to another (non -estrogen receptive) which does not respond to the previous treatment routine. The group is split into 3. Group 1 (control group), has what we know is an effective treatment for this type of cancer, (chemo-therapy). The second group has chemo plus a new drug that stimulates the body's own immune system and has been effective in other cancer treatments, (melanoma). The third group is given chemo plus a placebo. This placebo is administered in exactly the same way as the immune drug. The trial is double-blind which means that nobody involved in the treatment and administration of the drug knows which is the placebo. This eliminates any unintentional bias in treatment or in recording of results. If the immune drug works we see group 3 improve much quicker. However what if group 2 also improves quicker that group 1? (A common result). This is the placebo effect. Various theories abound, but it is likely that the placebo initiates an immune response and helps the body to fight the disease, repair the wound etc.I don't disagree with anything in your example except to point out that I've never mentioned cancer as an example of a disease without a psychological co-factor.
Cancer recovery is greatly influenced by stress, hence why placebos can have an effect.
I think new areas of research into placebo are trying to find out if placebo can benefit, even when the link to the 'psychological' component is more tenuous.
So, take the example of a broken leg, osteoarthritis or breast cancer. On the face of it, placebos will not have any impact.
But our immune system is quite remarkable: is it possible that a belief might trigger immune responses that would not otherwise have been triggered, hence, making a difference even if due to a placebo?
Could this triggered immune response speed healing, reduce severity of symptom or delay advancement of a condition?
Of course, it would be unwise to rely on the placebo effect only, but what if it is used in conjunction with conventional treatments. Might it have added benefits?
I think this is an exciting area to watch.
In light of what you said, I believe that there is some basis for your claim. Most diseases and problems have a psychological component as the entire human physiology is connected. It would be, however, prudent to recognize that these connections can be extremely limited and often clinically insignificant.
It's also hard to get a controlled test environment and hard to replicate it in reality. So much of the clinician's interaction with the patient can vary that the placebo may very well be the variation between clinicians.
The only placebo I would advocate is patient management/interaction and the only reason I call it a placebo is because it cannot be measured. That is the artistic component of medicine. Time and resources would be better spent on pharmacology, surgical techniques, and patient management rather than trying to see if we can quantify a placebo.
A few years ago I snapped my left ulna in the first minute of a taekwondo competition. It was an important bout so I carried on until the end and ended up with a displaced fracture and a lot of tissue damage.
After the usual fixing and pinning it was not healing well.
I had a session of Reiki, something I had no psychological investment in. (I didn't believe in it).
Almost straight away my healing accelerated, to the extent that the doctor couldn't work out how the improvement had occurred.
Call it placebo, mumbo-jumbo or whatever, it most definitely worked, and you could argue that there was no psychological component to that injury.Internal fixation (pins, chains, mesh and wires) relies on osseo-integration, a process that normally worries patients in the first few weeks. This occurs because internal fixation initially relies on primary stability - the threading on the screws biting into the bone. The bone then goes through normal turnover involving the death of the bone around the threads. As the internal fixation looses that stability as well as the biological process that occurs on the fixation site, the bone and wound can feel like it is progressing poorly.
Once secondary stability is achieved by new bone, the process rapidly improves. This is why casts are taken off after a nominated period.
Orthopedic surgeons wouldn't have been surprised, but usually will agree with patients as they're not interested in the conversation, or they're agreeing for the placebo effect. This leads to lower perception of pain and better doctor's rapport.
The average doctor may not understand most of the processes involved, or may also just be trying to move the conversation along.
Hope that helps.
edit. PS. if it is a compound fracture, bone spurs can also feel horrible and impede healing significantly. However, once the body successfully resorbs the spurs, healing resumes and pain is very quickly alleviated.
Yes, the mind is a powerful force.