PLACEBO EFFECT

Placebo Effect

Placebo Effect

Introduction

Placebo is derived from the Latin meaning “to placate or please.” The beneficial effect of a treatment that contains no real medicine. A 'placebo' (from a Latin root meaning 'to please') is a medicine' given to a patient ostensibly as a treatment, but which contains no real curative substances. The placebo effect is the name given to the phenomenon of a patient's illness being alleviated or cured by such a treatment. Studies have shown that this does indeed happen, albeit in a relatively small number of cases. This paper discusses if the concept of a 'placebo effect' is a help or a hindrance to our understanding and facilitation of human health and well-being.

Discussion

Some say that the placebo effect is a biochemical one. This theory suggests that the administering of a placebo gives patients the satisfaction of being treated, hope for eventual cure and a general lifting of the spirits. This in turn acts on the body's neurochemical system, triggering the release of beneficial substances, such as hormones, which help bring about a physical improvement in the patient's condition. Others believe that the effect is purely psychological. According to this line of thought, there is no real physical improvement but the perception of being treated makes a patient feel better'. Some medical practitioners believe that patients treated with placebos often are simply recovering naturally, as they would have done with or without the treatment, but argue that the placebo is still useful in reassuring the patient that they are receiving help. (Shapiro 2008, 398-450) 

Sceptics argue that there is no such thing as the placebo effect, and all that is happening is that patients just say they are feeling better in order to please the doctor. However, the fact that there is a substantial body of evidence of the real effect of placebos tends to contradict this argument. It may be that each of the possible explanations of the placebo effect plays a part in it, but it is true to say that the effect is not fully understood. (Guess, 2002)

The Placebo Problem: Help Or a Hindrance

A placebo (Latin for “I will please”) is “a preparation devoid of pharmacological effect given for psychological effect, or as a control in evaluating a medicinal believed to have pharmacological effect”. In short, it is something that chemically should not have an effect. In more general terms, it is a sugar pill. Although useful, the definition may be too narrow, since many other things, from the physician's diploma to a nurse's bedside manner, can have therapeutic psychological effects. Indeed, some writers say that until recent times most medicines were placebos. Furthermore, it can be argued that psychological factors such as the faith of the patient in the physician are still important placebo-like factors. One way or another, placebos are still used not only for research and psychological effect, but for keeping the patient satisfied and off the physician's phone. Sometimes the physician is actually using a placebo without knowing it. This happens when the physician believes the treatment helps, even though there is no scientific evidence for ...