3 ms·
Because people are drawn to being under the influence of the placebo effect, specifically. You could make a billion dollars by offering a kiosk that sells a bo
by altairprime 4y ago
Because people are drawn to being under the influence of the placebo effect, specifically.
You could make a billion dollars by offering a kiosk that sells a bottle of sugar pills with a custom label printed on it. Let people enter whatever symptom they have that’s bothering them and get a placebo bottle of sugar pills for it.
Nope, there’s no pharmaceutical in them. Yes, sugar is an “active ingredient” in placebo pills.
This pair of statements is deeply hostile to a pharmaceutical mindset — but we’re human beings, and human beings like to be fooled and like to pretend and like meaningless gestures that still make us feel better, and our bodies sometimes play along.
Homeopathy uses a lot of pseudoscience to sell their placebos because they’ve figured out how to market placebos to human beings. Find a better way to market placebos to human beings, as placebos and with the express purpose of having the placebo effect, and you’ll displace homeopathy altogether.
Arguing that humans shouldn’t seek the placebo effect is hopeless, though. We are human beings, and if there’s one thing you can guarantee with people as a whole, it’s that they’ll seek as wide a variety of altered states as possible by all means available — including both pharmaceuticals and placebos.
- mikkergp 4y agoI think you understate the value of the placebo effect in medical treatment, especially for certain types of treatments, i.e. pain and psychological treatment. I'm not saying we should treat infectious diseases that way, but the placebo affect is probably most of the power of many of "real" treatments. If the goal is to feel better, it seems a lot safer than using addictive opiods and other drugs. It may also be ultimately more efficacious: For anti-depressants, "a 2009 meta-analysis of anti-depressant trials concluded: The placebo effect accounted for 68% of the effect in the drug groups. Whereas clinical trials need to control the placebo effect, clinical practice should attempt to use its full power." https://theconversation.com/are-over-the-counter-painkillers-a-waste-of-money-71433#:~:text=An%20evidence%2Dbased%20approach%20to,work%20no%20better%20than%20placebo https://theconversation.com/are-over-the-counter-painkillers....
- altairprime 4y agoI’m suggesting that plainly-labeled placebos should replace homeopathy, so no need to convince me of the value of placebos! I’m just not interested in litigating the medical evidence with homeopathy proponents, because that tactic has been tried for decades and is an abysmal failure at ending homeopathy. (You’re welcome to keep trying if you like, but I’ve nothing new to contribute to such efforts.)
- mnw21cam 4y agoWhat surprises me the most about the placebo effect is that it still happens when the patient knows it is a placebo.
- carapace 4y ago> sells a bottle of sugar pills with a custom label printed on it. Let people enter whatever symptom they have that’s bothering them and get a placebo bottle of sugar pills for it. Bandler and Grinder wanted to try that back in the 70's or 80's, but the FDA wouldn't go for it. They were going to include a booklet that listed how effective placebos were for various ailments, all based on scientific studies. If the placebo was only ~%50 effective you just take twice as many...
- altairprime 4y agoUsing a kiosk to let customers enter whatever name they want to print on the placebo bottle solves this, because the FDA has no business declaring that my name can’t be Headache, and they aren’t claiming any treatment will occur when they sell it or invite me to enter my name. The point here is that no one is trying to replace homeopathy along these lines, and that’s why homeopathy thrives.