I'm not up to date on if there are any counter opinions to this, but I've heard that placebo's are similar in effect to SSRIs[1] - Though as always there's a lo

I'm not up to date on if there are any counter opinions to this, but I've heard that placebo's are similar in effect to SSRIs[1] - Though as always there's a lot of buts/ifs there.[2] My assumption is that a placebo causes people to expect things to get better and reduces stress levels, increases sleep quality and so on. I would figure a very supportive social network (family, prayer group) would probably have a similar effect. That being said like you say for something more severe the placebo alone isn't going to do much, but I would imagine if you gave people a placebo that they thought would improve their stage 4 cancer recovery you would probably see an effect. [1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172306/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172306/ [2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592645/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592645/