9 ms·

The scientifically documented efficacy of the placebo effect is, however.

jimnotgym 8y ago
Exactly, and my son was smart enough to recognise that it may just be a placebo, but with an amazing easy-going attitude was happy to see if this placebo worked on him.
- Retra 8y ago
  And next time your son has a headache, you'll give him the sea-band. The placebo effect is a miracle cure that treats all kinds of things, right?
  - jimnotgym 8y ago
    Yes, indeed I note that often in drug trials they hand out the placebo with the instructions "this is the drug to treat a different condition to the one you have"
Retra 8y ago
Placebo has never worked for me. So as someone who gets sea-sick, it's pretty damn important to me that a product which intends to operate based on the placebo effect be identified as such. Not everybody is healed by lies, after all.
- JoeAltmaier 8y ago
  How can we tell if we've been helped by a placebo?
  - Retra 8y ago
    You just say "I feel better" if any scientists or doctors ask you if anything changed. You'll be a placebo-effect supporting data point in no time.
    - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
      I meant, how can we say 'they don't help me'? We may already be taking them.
      - Retra 8y ago
        If you're taking them and the symptoms don't go away, then obviously they don't work. I don't understand why that's a question?
        JoeAltmaier 8y ago
        ...because we may be prescribed what's essentially a placebo and it seems to work and we don't know that it was a placebo. The claim that 'placebos don't work on me' seems like a hard claim to verify.
        jimnotgym 8y ago
        Also taking the line that "Nothing works on me unless I understand the mechanism" is kind of obtuse, considering that the article we are commenting on is about a device that relieves motion sickness, where even the inventor doesn't make any claims to know the mechanism by which they relieve the sickness. This may be the placebo effect, of course.
        Retra 8y ago
        It is not my understanding of the mechanism that makes a drug work. It is my understanding of the mechanism that I use to justify giving money to a company that offers a product to me. If a product is being sold to treat motion sickness, it damn well better be able to do that via some actual fucking mechanism. If your standards aren't that high, then perhaps I should get into the snake oil business. Seems I'm surrounded by suckers.
        Retra 8y ago
        FFS. If you're prescribed a medicine and it doesn't work, then if it was a placebo, it didn't work. Not hard to verify at all. A drug that doesn't work isn't going to be any less effective than a placebo. Placebos are not 100% effective. We know this because we can identify when they don't work. If you give me a sea-band and tell me it is "powered by placebo", and it doesn't do shit, then the placebo doesn't work. That's even easier to figure out.

Exactly, and my son was smart enough to recognise that it may just be a placebo, but with an amazing easy-going attitude was happy to see if this placebo worked on him.

Retra 8y ago
And next time your son has a headache, you'll give him the sea-band. The placebo effect is a miracle cure that treats all kinds of things, right?
- jimnotgym 8y ago
  Yes, indeed I note that often in drug trials they hand out the placebo with the instructions "this is the drug to treat a different condition to the one you have"

Retra 8y ago

Placebo has never worked for me. So as someone who gets sea-sick, it's pretty damn important to me that a product which intends to operate based on the placebo effect be identified as such. Not everybody is healed by lies, after all.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
How can we tell if we've been helped by a placebo?
- Retra 8y ago
  You just say "I feel better" if any scientists or doctors ask you if anything changed. You'll be a placebo-effect supporting data point in no time.
  - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
    I meant, how can we say 'they don't help me'? We may already be taking them.
    - Retra 8y ago
      If you're taking them and the symptoms don't go away, then obviously they don't work. I don't understand why that's a question?
      - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
        ...because we may be prescribed what's essentially a placebo and it seems to work and we don't know that it was a placebo. The claim that 'placebos don't work on me' seems like a hard claim to verify.
        jimnotgym 8y ago
        Also taking the line that "Nothing works on me unless I understand the mechanism" is kind of obtuse, considering that the article we are commenting on is about a device that relieves motion sickness, where even the inventor doesn't make any claims to know the mechanism by which they relieve the sickness. This may be the placebo effect, of course.
        Retra 8y ago
        It is not my understanding of the mechanism that makes a drug work. It is my understanding of the mechanism that I use to justify giving money to a company that offers a product to me. If a product is being sold to treat motion sickness, it damn well better be able to do that via some actual fucking mechanism. If your standards aren't that high, then perhaps I should get into the snake oil business. Seems I'm surrounded by suckers.
        Retra 8y ago
        FFS. If you're prescribed a medicine and it doesn't work, then if it was a placebo, it didn't work. Not hard to verify at all. A drug that doesn't work isn't going to be any less effective than a placebo. Placebos are not 100% effective. We know this because we can identify when they don't work. If you give me a sea-band and tell me it is "powered by placebo", and it doesn't do shit, then the placebo doesn't work. That's even easier to figure out.