4 ms·
To counter some off the off-the-cuff comments here: These researchers (specifically molecular biologist Kathryn Hall) seem to have found a link between an enzy
by Joe-Z 8y ago
To counter some off the off-the-cuff comments here:
These researchers (specifically molecular biologist Kathryn Hall) seem to have found a link between an enzyme called COMT and response to placebo treatments. That is, people with a genetic pre-disposition for lower COMT-production will respond less to placebo effects and MORE to actual drugs whereas for people with higher COMT-levels the opposite holds true.
I think this is a fascinating finding and does a lot to do away with hand-waving explanations of the placebo-effect as 'it's all psychology' (just look in the comments here).
Unfortunately the article ends with a kind of esoteric tone of one of the researchers, in that he believes it would be unfortunate if we did away with the rituals and warmth and caring involved in more esoteric practices completely. I don't really get that: If we figured out why the placebo effect works and we can very effectively treat patients depending on their genetic pre-disposition that's awesome!
- danieltillett 8y agoThe patients that respond to the placebo are the bane of pharma companies developing a new drug. More than one drug trial has failed because the placebo arm has responded. It is so bad that in some trials they will run a pre-trial where everyone gets the placebo and the responders are excluded before the main trial starts. It would be interesting to see what else COMT levels are correlated with especial religious and social beliefs.
- Joe-Z 8y ago>It would be interesting to see what else COMT levels are correlated with especial religious and social beliefs. Very interesting indeed! Maybe it's my 'I'm such a rational thinker'-pride, but I guess I'm in the group that doesn't respond strongly to placebo effects. I'd be more than happy to pop a social-wellbeing pill in combination with whatever pill I need to treat my condition. As opposed to Mr. Kaptchuk’s view that it would be a shame if we lost this dependency on other humans and their empathy for healing.