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There are multiple factors that contribute to the placebo effect. The psychosomatic response is one of them. "Optimistic interpretation/collection of data by pe
by philwelch 5y ago
There are multiple factors that contribute to the placebo effect. The psychosomatic response is one of them. "Optimistic interpretation/collection of data by people wanting to see the medicine work" is another factor, but one that's typically removed by double-blinding. With some conditions, just plain reversion-to-the-mean is also part of the placebo effect--if you take a pill to cure your headache and your headache goes away, who's to say the headache wouldn't have gone away of its own accord anyway?
- austinjp 5y agoHmmm nit picking but I think regression to the mean is different from placebo. Regression to the mean: most headaches go away within a few hours. Placebo: your favourite brand of paracetamol seems to cure headaches quicker than the unbranded version. They can interact, of course.
- tsimionescu 5y agoPlacebo refers to any effect where a patient's outcomes seem to improve for reasons not related to the specific intervention attempted. Regression to the mean, incorrect data collection, psycho-somatic effects etc are all elements of placebo, in various degrees in various instances.
- austinjp 5y agoWell, fair enough. To split hairs ever finer, though... Placebo is present in all circumstances, as is nocebo. Regression to the mean is a statistical phenomenon. It can help aid understanding of the size and role of placebo effects, but it isn't a part of the placebo effect. Ditto data collection and analysis. But yeah, I'm probably splitting hairs :)