Jackknifed_Juggernaut:
Are doctors in the US allowed to prescribe placebo medications without informing their patients (which would, of course, defeat the purpose)? I only ask because one of my friends insists that his doctor is giving him a placebo in lieu of his normal medication. I didn’t think that it would be allowed.
Notifying the patient that they are taking a placebo may still work. Placebo effect works even if patients know they’re getting a sham drug
To investigate the limits of placebo, Prof Ted Kaptchuk of Harvard Medical School’s Osher Research Center divided 80 patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) into two groups: one received no treatment and the other was given dummy pills to take twice a day. The second group was told by the doctors that they would be taking “placebo pills made of an inert substance, like sugar pills, that have been shown in clinical studies to produce significant improvement in IBS-symptoms through mind-body self-healing processes”.
“Not only did we make it absolutely clear that these pills had no active ingredient and were made from inert substances, but we actually had ‘placebo’ printed on the bottle,” said Kaptchuk. “We told the patients that they didn’t have to even believe in the placebo effect. Just take the pills.”
The results, published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, showed that the placebo pills were more effective at relieving symptoms compared with doing nothing at all.
That is interesting. I read that and wonder whether a certain proportion of the population simply don’t know what ‘placebo’ or ‘active ingredient’ means, and don’t bother to check.
I would like to point out that this effect was noted in a STUDY.
Bumped.
I just learned that the word “placebo” actually has a religious origin: Placebo - Wikipedia
Great Sequential Threads fodder! The next thread on the Thread List, at the moment, is What did you learn today?
No, doctors don’t prescribe them.
If you want placebos, go to the vitamin/supplement section – no prescription needed.