4 ms·

The placebo effect itself is fairly spooky.

• disgruntledphd2 7y ago
  Not really. It's all Descartes fault, essentially, by postulating the "mind" as distinct from matter. More specifically, placebo pain-relief has been associated with endogenously produced opioids for approximately 40 years now (1978, I believe). More recent research suggests that much of the variance in the effects of pain-killers can be associated with these endogenously produced opioids (when the patient was not aware of the pain-relief, responses were similar). So essentially, the placebo effect is just a normal part of your body responding to medical treatment, regardless of the efficacy of said treatment. I'm talking about pain because most of the research is on pain, but the principles are similar where placebos tend to be effective (not against infections, sadly but pain and depression seem to be extremely placebo-responsive).