3 ms·
FTA: We subconsciously respond to treatment - even a sham one - because it comes with assurances that it will weaken the infection, allowing our immune response
by vannevar 14y ago
FTA: We subconsciously respond to treatment - even a sham one - because it comes with assurances that it will weaken the infection, allowing our immune response to succeed rapidly without straining the body's resources.
I wonder if there isn't an alternative explanation, that the placebo effect may be an elaboration of the human social instinct. Consider how a control patient in a drug trial must feel when they are not given any treatment. Perhaps receiving the pill is an act of symbolic inclusion in the tribe that cues the immune system that the individual has a better outlook because they will be cared for by others.
- maratd 14y ago> I wonder if there isn't an alternative explanation, that the placebo effect may be an elaboration of the human social instinct. You read my mind. We're social animals. Hamsters may respond to sunlight, human beings respond to communal support. We have plentiful food stores when we are supported by our community and have none when we are abandoned. We're not hamsters. Somebody bothering to place you in a study, ask you dozens of questions, then give you medicine ... at no cost to you ... doesn't that scream social support?
- SquareWheel 14y agoI wonder if a placebo would be just as effective if taken at home as a Tylenol or similar.