placebo effect

The BBC has an article on the placebo effect in animals: Why animals experience the placebo effect much like we do Those of us who have followed the debates here about homoeopathy will find few surprises here, apart from the fact that a mainstream news media actually gets it right! One thing...

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-expensive-placebos-work-better-20150127-story.html Or you could take the $10,000 cure at the Institute for Advanced Quackery and Homeopathy in Juarez, Mexico. :covereyes

I couldn't find a placebo-related thread that covered this topic within the last year or so. I thought it would be nice to revitalize the topic to see how people feel about it in 2014. I have some questions and some suppositions. Before I begin, I'd like to define the term based on my...

In the latest Skeptic's Dictionary newsletter, Robert Todd Carroll discusses the placebo effect. A snippet: This clears up some confusion I've had. In the SD entry, which he has just updated, he expands on this: In my many forays at woo forums, they tend to think the placebo effect is a...

5 Things You Think Work, But Actually Don't I guess because these things sometimes don't work you can go ahead and write an article saying that they don't work. Maybe the shoes are the only thing that really never works. 6. Articles With Highly Attractive Headlines We hate to break it to...

Dear skeptics, I am back after a long, Yesterday I worked with old data of physilogical variability to find an accurate statistical measure for the identification of homeopathic medicine. I was able to find out marked change in graphs of Auto regressive spectrum of placebo readings and medicine...

I have suffered from severe night leg cramps ever since I was around 12 years old. It wasn't until I was around 30 years old that someone (the choreographer for a production of Camelot I was in) told me that I probably needed more potassium in my diet. cramps are evidently caused (at times) by...

Placebos work, even when patients are in the know, study finds Surprising news. Really surprising news. :jaw-dropp

A noteworthy article by Bruce Levine at Counterpunch (I am prohibited from posting a link because I am new here; just Google "levine depression counterpunch") discusses 5 myths about depression treatment and the role of belief, with interesting implications for critical thinkers. "Critical...

...as well as placebo! Brien et al. Homeopathy has clinical benefits in rheumatoid arthritis patients that are attributable to the consultation process but not the homeopathic remedy: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Rheumatology, published online November 13, 2010. There's an...

Published in the BMJ today: I wonder how the supplement industry will respond to this research?

One of the things often said in defence of homoeopathy is that even if it works via the placebo effect, it still provides relief to the patient. It is suggested that, in individualised (or "Classical") homoeopathy, the extended consultation makes it a particularly effective placebo. It is also...

Could this go some way towards explaining why chiropractors are convinced that their spinal manipulations have a specific effect? http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/10October/Pages/Placebo-effect-starts-in-the-spine.aspx

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19781854 It makes me wonder about the effects of giving the the patients the patient information sheet.

http: // www . prohealth . com /me-cfs/blog/boardDetail . cfm?id=1363626 (take out the spaces, obviously) What does everyone think of this?

Just a note to say that BBC Radio Four has a programme next week on the Hawthorne Effect, which may be interesting to listen to given the amount of time we spend discussing the placebo effect and related issues with the design of experiments.

Let's use anti-oxidants as my woo example in a possible phenomena I'd like to explore: In a double blind test, the participants are aware of their chances of getting the placebo. They have good reason to doubt that they should fell anything. Perhaps we could even give the doubt a number, like...

For anyone not a regular at badscience.net who is remotely interested in the "power" of placebo, give this a listen; http://www.bbc.co.uk//radio4/science/placebo.shtml I can't help but think of CAM in terms of "The Matrix" - that to pull the plug on those people getting feelgood/feelbetter...

Apparently placebos are not covered under ant-doping laws! http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article4160494.ece A spokesman for the World Anti-Doping Association said that the rules did not cover “placebo dopers”. He said: “If the substance involved is not a banned substance, that would...

In Severna Park, Maryland, it would appear.

Expectations for Recovery Important in the Prognosis of Whiplash Injuries. Another study which adds to the accruing body of evidence that one's expectations of recovery actually influence recovery. This ties in with the psychology behind the placebo effect.

This from the "Feedback" column of New Scientist magazine, 26 April 2008. I'd give you a link but I'm too busy subscribing to their podcasts. Tell me why this isn't a good idea.

Today's BMJ has an article on the placebo response. The study assessed the response of patients with irritable bowel syndrome to 3 interventions - observation only, sham acupuncture (limited placebo intervention) and sham acupuncture with 45 minutes empathetic practitioner input (augmented...

Thought this study in the BMJ might be of interest to some here: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmj.39524.439618.25v1

In this survey of 231 physicians in Chicagoland some 45% responded that they have prescribed placebos. This is much higher than I would've expected. With so many patients adept today on the internet drug information sources I am wondering how so many actually "get away" with this practice...

I went with a co-worker to the gym today, and at the front desk the receptionist was sitting cross-legged, back straight, eyes closed. A trainer was standing there, running one hand in front of her body and one in back. Each hand was about a foot away from her body. He'd move them from head...

I think that even in case that Homeopathy is just placebo, people should use homeopathy. Placebo effect really helps people. So, if homeopathy is placebo, it will help people - just as placebo does. (Of course, not when it is taken instead of treatments that work better-than-placebo).

Apologies if this has been brought up before. I onetime complained to my doctor that I was experiencing energy crashes after eating simple sugars. I told him after an initial high, I felt somewhat exhausted and ineffective, and I wanted to know if it was normal and if something could be done...

I see the Observer's Nick Cohen is spouting good sense (well 99% is anyway). The comments are running into the dozens already - polarised opinions as ever.

greetings. i'm new; on slow dial-up, and lack the time to review the contents of this site. this is my apology if this matter has been discussed to death already. perhaps many are aware of how big-pharm skewers double blinds in their favor, in respect to placebos. drugs like prozac beat the...