Placebos are powerful in that they can have real physical effects on the body without the risk of introducing foreign toxins that could have detrimental side-effects down the road. These physical effects can be attributed to the usually underestimated ability of the mind. The ability to influence physiological changes through the power of thought shouldn't be overlooked as a treatment for a variety of disease states including inflammation.
This is an interesting video I found that explains the placebo effect and really gets you thinking about how easily our brains can be manipulated to get the desired physiological response.
hahaha I love this! I would really like to see the studies that show the varying effects of pill sizes, colors, type of administration, etc. I would also love to see the study that showed geographical differences in placebo. Could it be that cultural upbringing makes some people more effective placebo targets? It would be nice to see the demographic breakdown of the study to see if it was actually geography or if it was culture that affected placebo efficacy. What if all these double-blinded placebo studies have overlooked culture to the point that certain clinical trials reached incorrect conclusions because their patient pool was too skewed to one cultural background?!
ReplyDeleteThe placebo effect is so interetsing! I never thought about cultural upbringing playing a role in the placebo effect. It's a fascinating idea! I found a paper on the "meaning response". I didn't read the whole thing, but it talks about taking blue pills v. red pills, the number of pills taken and the effects of brand names. Definitely makes me wonder.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.encognitive.com/files/Deconstructing%20the%20Placebo%20Effect.pdf
It is well known that there is an inherent placebo effect in nearly every culture, all over the world. Even most of us have encountered a placebo effect where we believed something would help us achieve a desired effect, but in actuality it was just our bodies convincing ourselves otherwise. However though, coming from an indian family, i have truly seen the overwhelming power of the placebo effect. Though not directly related to drugs, there are many home made remedies that Indians use to cure certain conditions. These range from certain spices to even certain nuts such as almonds and pistachios. It's quite interesting to hear these myths and see people believe in these placebo effects, but to each his own.
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