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Placebos can change your attitude but cannot cure anything. You may feel better but in reality nothing has changed other than the feeling.
by driverdan 13y ago
Placebos can change your attitude but cannot cure anything. You may feel better but in reality nothing has changed other than the feeling.
- seren 13y agoBut if you can feel better, without having any possible dangerous side-effect, it is actually a powerful effect we should leverage for minor ailments. Most drugs are not trying to cure you anyway, but are only bringing you some relief. I am not trying to defend the efficiency of homeopathy there, but I am saying that triggering the placebo effect is beneficial.
- brazzy 13y agoUltimately, the goal of any cure is to make you feel better. And there is lots of evidence that psychology can have very powerful effects on your body.
- stan_rogers 13y agoIndeed. Even if we dispose of any debatable improvements in recovery from various illnesses that may be caused by reducing stress, etc., that still leaves the rather broad category of physical ailments that are largely psychosomatic (that is, the physical distress, though very real, arises as a result of or is greatly exacerbated by mental state). That being said, the purely psychological effect needs to be used responsibly, scientifically (that is, the patient needs to be monitored on the basis of more than just feeling) and in conjunction with real medicine - the peddling of woo-woo on its own by people who are essentially answerable to no-one and who believe in the woo-woo (or at least disbelieve in or pathologically distrust scientific medicine) is dangerous and deadly, and it's just about time to put a permanent stop to it.
- driverdan 13y agoYou mean treatment. Treatment makes you feel better. A cure, uh, cures you of the problem.