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What gets me is that this BBC article portrays this as an even debate with two reasoned sides where it's obvious that they're just bloody sugar pills. Shame on
by poutine 17y ago
What gets me is that this BBC article portrays this as an even debate with two reasoned sides where it's obvious that they're just bloody sugar pills. Shame on you BBC.
Pseudoscience like this can cause people to delay seeking real treatment until their ailments are severe. This increases the risk to the patient, the cost of treatment and even some deaths where treatment is not sought until too late.
- eru 17y agoYes. Although on the other hand, well-accepted placebos can cure people.
- Groxx 17y agoSure. The placebo effect is incredibly strong in quite a few cases. But placebos aren't supported treatment by the NHS. You also don't see sugar pills for sale in your pharmacy (except where labelled as homeopathic drugs).
- poutine 17y agoThe placebo effect is overstated and misunderstood by many. Further, using the placebo effect to treat sick people is unethical and ineffective. It should not be available through pharmacies. For a greater and more educated discussion on the placebo effect (by a respected neurologist) please see: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=24 http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=24
- Alex3917 17y ago"There is no compelling evidence that the mind can create healing simply through will or belief." IIRC Daniel Goleman's book Emotional Intelligence cites studies showing that if you swap out a person's medicine with a placebo, their body will actually keep producing the same antibodies or whatever. I think the same book also cites studies showing that how many calories a person's body absorbs depends as much on the taste of the food as it does on the caloric content. So, for example, if you put steak and mashed potatoes in a blender then the person drinking that will gain less weight than they would if they ate the same caloric amount in normal form. What's more, just recently there was an article showing that hotel maids actually start losing weight if you tell them that their jobs count as exercise, even though they weren't actually exercising any more than they were before: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17792517 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1779251...
- elblanco 17y agoBut the placebo effect is not what homeopathy is claiming to be is it?