THE PLACEBO EFFECT

Abstract

Placebo is derived from the Latin meaning “to placate or please.” Placebo effect is the reaction of a population to placebo administration e.g. in clinical experiments. Placebo response is the response seen in a person following application of a placebo. Conditioning, verbal suggestions, and behaviors marked by healthcare providers are embraced by ecological and psychosocial determinants of placebo responses or effects. A clearer distinction between the placebo effect and placebo response is important, because it demystifies how centuries of placebo administration can legitimately be termed medicine and how modern researchers approach the endeavor. Just as the placebo response being limited to the brain reflects only one aspect of the response, the placebo effect being reduced to changes in physiology reflects only one aspect of the effect; yet, this is the aspect in which the clinician is interested. Placebo side effects mimic medication side effects, and placebo effects have been documented in studies of psychotherapy, acupuncture, hypnosis, and behavioral treatments for insomnia and pain. Placebo has long been a friend to the clinician whose patients benefit from its positive effects; conversely, placebo has been troublesome to medical scientists who view its administration as an inconvenient complication of a more straightforward observation of the body's reaction to substance or intervention.

Abstractii

Introduction1

Placebo Effect defined2

History of the study of the Placebo Effect2

Types of Placebo Effects and placebos5

Reactions16

Minds reaction to the placebos16

Body's reaction to the placebos17

Benefits18

Case study(s)24

Methods in case study24

Results from case study25

Analysis of case study results26

Conclusion27

Implications28

The Placebo Effect, Reaction and Integration with Medicine

Introduction

Since various years, the placebo effect has been an important topic in logical, scientific and clinical fields. From last decade our knowledge relating to methods of the placebo effect has been greatly enhanced. An excellent qualitative research has been done in the areas of pain and analgesia, and the placebo analgesic response emerged as a most authentic model of placebo mechanisms. The acknowledgement of Placebo mechanisms has been delayed in other clinical circumstances and populations. This short piece of writing aims to appraise and synthesize recent information on placebo mechanisms and to inform about potential clinical implications. The cohesion of various factors and mechanisms of other placebo phenomena are also conferred along with minimal differences despite the fact that placebo analgesia is our main focus.

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. Millions of antidepressants prescribed to patients each year may be nothing more than ...