# What is the current thinking on the placebo effect?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-current-thinking-on-the-placebo-effect/418902>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 12, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-current-thinking-on-the-placebo-effect/418902 "2007-09-12T14:52:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-current-thinking-on-the-placebo-effect/418902/1 "2007-09-12T14:52:50Z")

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In [this](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mnocebo.html) column, SDSTAFF David writes that a 2001 study suggested that the placebo effect may not be true. Instead, some people just get better because of the uneven course of disease. What is the latest on the placebo effect? Is there still broad consensus that the brain changes our physiology such that some people will cure diseases with a sugar pill and positive thinking?

As a related question that may be easier to answer, is there a placebo effect in animals?

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**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-current-thinking-on-the-placebo-effect/418902/2 "2007-09-12T15:05:52Z")

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The debate rages on:

> [@](#):
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> Findings published today in the journal Science offer fresh evidence in support of the existence of a placebo effect and suggest how a brain influenced by this effect changes its response to pain.

Scientific American February 20, 2004: [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000B6140-F61E-1034-B61E83414B7F0000](http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000B6140-F61E-1034-B61E83414B7F0000)

The evidence in animals is sketchy at best, but:

> [@](#):
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> A significant placebo effect was therefore detected.

Jæger, \*et al. \* “Stratification, Blinding and Placebo Effect in a Randomized, Double Blind Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial of Gold Bead Implantation in Dogs with Hip Dysplasia,” \*Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica \* 2005, 46:57-68 [Stratification, Blinding and Placebo Effect in a Randomized, Double Blind Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial of Gold Bead Implantation in Dogs with Hip Dysplasia | Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica | Springer Nature Link](http://www.actavetscand.com/content/46/2/57)

and

McMillan, “The placebo effect in animals,” 1999 Oct 1;215(7):992-9: [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/e...6&dopt=Citation](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/e...6&dopt=Citation) (There isn’t even an abstract available on this one; it’s a review article, so it could actually say that any previous studies showing a placebo effect in animals were flawed).

and

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> Scopolamine hydrobromide disrupts the learned behavior of rats in a predictable manner. Physiological saline mimics to some extent the effect of the drug when the two substances are alternately administered in a series of injections. This placebo effect appears to be an instance of simple Pavlovian conditioning.

[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/138/3541/677](http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/138/3541/677)

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**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-current-thinking-on-the-placebo-effect/418902/3 "2007-09-12T18:30:10Z")

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Don’t tell me the placebo effect doesn’t exist! I’ll never get better now that I know about it.

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**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-current-thinking-on-the-placebo-effect/418902/4 "2007-09-12T18:34:55Z")

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[QUOTE=chaoticbear]  
Don’t tell me the placebo effect doesn’t exist! I’ll never get better now that I know about it.  
[/QUOTE]

Then I definitely won’t tell you about the Nocebo Effect: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2709-2002Apr29](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2709-2002Apr29)