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The placebo effect: amazing and real

November 2, 2015

Robert H. Shmerling

    The placebo effect is a mysterious thing. I’ve long been fascinated by the idea that something as inert and harmless as a sugar pill could relieve a person’s pain or hasten their recovery just by the expectation that it would. Studies use placebos – an inactive treatment, such as a sugar pill – in an attempt to understand the true impact of the active drug. Comparing what happens to a group of patients taking the active drug with the results of those taking a placebo can help researchers understand just how good the active drug is.

    The word “placebo” comes from Latin and means “I shall please.” And “please” it does. In study after study, many patients who take a placebo show improvement in their symptoms or condition.

The placebo effect is for real

    Recent research on the placebo effect only confirms how powerful it can be – and that the benefits of a placebo treatment aren’t just “all in your head.” Measureable physiological changes can be observed in those taking a placebo, similar to those observed among people taking effective medications. In particular, blood pressure, heart rate, and blood test results have been shown to improve among subsets of research subjects who responded to a placebo.

    Of course, not everyone has a therapeutic response to a placebo. If that were the case, we wouldn’t need medications at all. Instead, we could simply wield the power of suggestion. Understanding why certain people improve with placebo treatment and others do not is the “holy grail” of placebo research.

Nocebo: Placebo’s evil twin

     The power of suggestion is a double-edged sword. If you expect a treatment to help you, it’s more likely to do so. And if you expect a treatment will be harmful, you are more likely to experience negative effects. That phenomenon is called the “nocebo effect” (from the Latin “I shall harm”). For example, if you tell a person that a headache is a common side effect of a particular medication, that person is more likely to report headaches even if they are actually taking a placebo. The power of expectation is formidable and probably plays a significant role in the benefits and the side effects of commonly prescribed medications.

(www.health.harvard.edu. Adaptado.)