3 ms·

Genetic tests can predict when placebos may be the best medicine

13 points by sizzle 12y ago

lutusp 12y ago
> When the test results come back, they will tell Brown that, according to his patient’s DNA, she should do just as well on sugar pills as on any antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug. Instead of prescribing psychiatric medications, he can send her home with a prescription that reads, simply: placebo. It's instructive to know that placebos don't work for cancer, but they do work for depression. When a placebo does as well as actual medicine to treat an ailment, it's time for some science to (a) find out whether the "real" medications actually work, and (b) find out what the ailment actually is. But that science hasn't been done -- as long as psychiatrists and psychologists are in charge of depression, a placebo will seem to be a suitable treatment.
- sp332 12y ago
  Placebos can work on cancer, it's just very rare. http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/95/1/19.full http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/95/1/19.full It's common for drug responses to depend on genetics. Remember the BiDil drug which works for a much higher percentage of black people than white people? http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/health/24drugs.html http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/health/24drugs.html
gojomo 12y ago
Wow. I wonder if telling people they're of the genotype that responds to placebos (even if they aren't) could help them. Does placebo-sensitivity also extend to other negative suggestions? (Is it correlated with, or a reverse of hypochondria?) Are those most helped by placebos also more credulous with regard to commercial solicitations? Is there any such thing as 'false advertising' when the audience is highly-placebo sensitive? "It truly works – for you!" Do mass-media ad campaigns improve the effectiveness of OTC medicines? "It's the strongest pain-killer available. We couldn't say it if it wasn't true, and also by the way it wouldn't be true if we didn't say it to everyone all the time."

13 points by sizzle 12y ago

> When the test results come back, they will tell Brown that, according to his patient’s DNA, she should do just as well on sugar pills as on any antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug. Instead of prescribing psychiatric medications, he can send her home with a prescription that reads, simply: placebo. It's instructive to know that placebos don't work for cancer, but they do work for depression. When a placebo does as well as actual medicine to treat an ailment, it's time for some science to (a) find out whether the "real" medications actually work, and (b) find out what the ailment actually is. But that science hasn't been done -- as long as psychiatrists and psychologists are in charge of depression, a placebo will seem to be a suitable treatment.

sp332 12y ago
Placebos can work on cancer, it's just very rare. http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/95/1/19.full http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/95/1/19.full It's common for drug responses to depend on genetics. Remember the BiDil drug which works for a much higher percentage of black people than white people? http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/health/24drugs.html http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/health/24drugs.html

gojomo 12y ago

Wow. I wonder if telling people they're of the genotype that responds to placebos (even if they aren't) could help them. Does placebo-sensitivity also extend to other negative suggestions? (Is it correlated with, or a reverse of hypochondria?) Are those most helped by placebos also more credulous with regard to commercial solicitations? Is there any such thing as 'false advertising' when the audience is highly-placebo sensitive? "It truly works – for you!" Do mass-media ad campaigns improve the effectiveness of OTC medicines? "It's the strongest pain-killer available. We couldn't say it if it wasn't true, and also by the way it wouldn't be true if we didn't say it to everyone all the time."