That's not what your link actually says: > He’s the Director of the Program in Placebo Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a professor of medici

That's not what your link actually says: > He’s the Director of the Program in Placebo Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School. His work on placebo effects has been a frequent topic right here on this very blog and has been a mixed bag. On the one hand, Kaptchuk sometimes does interesting work, but on the other hand he can’t seem to help himself when it comes to overselling it. And frankly I think the idea stands on its own regardless of who it's coming from. We know that there are placebo effects that convey therapeutic benefits [1], and aren't currently sure exactly where these come from. But why not make use of them anyway? TFA points out that we did that with aspirin for decades, and are doing that with antidepressants right now (which [1] points out may be mostly industrialised placebo as well). This seems like good practical thinking. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo#Effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo#Effects