Interesting article on the placebo effect

[David B]

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/09/what_is_the_placebo_effect_and.php

Well, I'm here to explain to you what the Placebo Effect really is. From a particular point of view and using particular analytical tools. You'll find other writing on this to give a somewhat different perspective, but what I present here, in the form of an examination of Silberman's article, may be helpful.

This is going to take a while, so I suggest you put on a pot of coffee....

A placebo is a tool used to establish a control in a scientific experiment in which a medical treatment is being tested for both safety and efficacy. The system of control (of which the placebo is only part) is important to determine if some outcome is really the result of the thing that is being tested, which may be a pill, an injection, or some other medical procedure. It is also important to see if side effects that arise during the experiment are likely associated with the thing that is being tested, as opposed to background stuff that happens anyway.

When this is done it is sometimes found that people who receive the placebo treatment have a result that is similar to, but often of a lower magnitude than, the desired effect of the treatment. Some people have incorrectly suggested or assumed that this is the result of something like "positive thinking" (call it what you will) in which the desired effect is obtained not directly from the treatment, but from within the person who takes the placebo (or some spiritual source). That person's immune system is cranking up, or some other psychological effect is happening (or some spiritual thing is happening).

It needs a bit of taking in, so I'm going to re-read the whole thing.

David

[WannabeTesla]

Wow, that was a lot to take in. It is interesting to hear this perspective, though, as the last issue of Skeptic had an article discussing how the placebo effect sometimes produces statistically significant results and questioning what mechanisms are involved in producing those results. I suppose Laden's suggestion could very well implicate that mechanism, though Harriet Hall of Skeptic was taking the psychological approach.

[Notta]

I don't have the time to dig them up, but there have been several studies that showed children who were exposed to video games mimicking the effects of the immune system had better outcomes from cancer treatment than children who did not, leading the researchers to believe that these kids could visualize their immune system fighting off the cancer cells, resulting in a positive placebo effect simply from playing video games.

[Gaojie]

Yeah, maybe I'm a bit dim but I read a good deal of his article and truthfully I couldn't tell what he was on about. His writing style is extremely wordy and for now good reason IMO.