The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
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Re: The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
#2Any idea how placebos work so well, what they are, and if we're doing anything to take advantage of the effect?
Re: The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
#3Try it yourself: http://placebobutton.com/
Re: The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
#4I thought that was kind of obvious.
A friend of mine who repairs PCs occasionally finds nothing wrong with them and does the usual "I'll run some maintenance on it" and the client is always happier afterwards. He doesn't charge for stuff unless anything needs to be done.
Re: The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
#5Any idea how placebos work so well, what they are, and if we're doing anything to take advantage of the effect?
They work the same way that some speaker cables sound so damn great (to whomever paid the $299 for them).
Re: The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
#6> For a drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it must prove itself better than a placebo, or fake drug.
False, the FDA doesn't actually have any requirement to prove that a treatment is better than placebo. Many trials don't even include a placebo arm, they only compare themselves against existing drugs that were grandfathered into the system without any efficacy testing. Or they compare themselves to inert placebos rather than active ones, even if they are psychoactive drugs. Or they only compare themselves against placebos for a few weeks, even if they are meant to be used for long periods of time.
This is how we have drugs like antidepressants and ADHD drugs on the market even the though research shows they are actually worse than taking no drug at all.
Re: The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
#7Any idea how placebos work so well, what they are, and if we're doing anything to take advantage of the effect?
They work the same way that some speaker cables sound so damn great (to whomever paid the $299 for them). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Don't placebos sometimes result in real physical benefits?
Re: The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
#8Anyone interested in the Placebo Effect, I recommend Josh & Chuck's Stuff You Should Know episode about it.
http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/how-the-placebo-e...
Re: The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
They work the same way that some speaker cables sound so damn great (to whomever paid the $299 for them). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Don't placebos sometimes result in real physical benefits?
Interesting two part article by a Harvard Med School professor on whether psychiatric meds rely on an "activated placebo effect" (i.e. a placebo with side effects). Some would argue this isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as they are perceived to be efficacious by those taking them.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/epidemi...
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jul/14/illusio...
Re: The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills
#10> For a drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it must prove itself better than a placebo, or fake drug. False, the FDA doesn't actually have any requirement to prove that a treatment is better than placebo. Many trials don't even include a placebo arm, they only compare themselves against existing drugs that were grandfathered into the system without any efficacy testing. Or they compare themselves…
> antidepressants and ADHD drugs on the market even the though research shows they are actually worse than taking no drug at all
What do you mean?