5 ms·
I am very much not convinced of the interpretation of the placebo effect as "the fact that just thinking that you're getting some treatment of benefit can have
by x1798DE 12y ago
I am very much not convinced of the interpretation of the placebo effect as "the fact that just thinking that you're getting some treatment of benefit can have actual benefits." The placebo (and corresponding nocebo) effect is completely intuitive when you think of it as a measurement artifact. It's strongest in self-reported outcomes, it goes away or is massively reduced the better your blinding - all exactly what you'd expect from a combination of confirmation bias and expectations (both on the part of the person receiving the treatment and doing the study).
Even to the extent that there are placebo effects in clearly quantifiable outcomes (e.g. blood pressure, etc) it's still way more plausible that these are due to nonspecific treatment effects (e.g. taking a pill every day for your blood pressure reminds you of your problem with blood pressure and so you take the stairs instead of the elevator or you don't have a second serving of steak) than that there's a way for your mind to just cause arbitrary positive or negative effects above and beyond your normal immune system - but only if it's tricked into it.
- sp332 12y agoIt's reduced by blinding because both groups think they're getting treatment - that is, they both get the placebo effect, and the test group also gets the benefit of the actual treatment. Edit: It's not really reduced by blinding, it's removed as a variable because both groups have the placebo effect.
- x1798DE 12y agoI suppose the fact that it's reduced by blinding the patient is a wash (consistent with both theses), but now you need to add two new causes to explain why single and double blinding work, whereas none of the observed phenomena are inconsistent with other well-known research biases.
- true_religion 12y agoSingle blinding spreads the placebo effect to both groups since both groups think they're getting the treatment. Double blinding reduces the placebo effect, since the researcher can't imply to the patient which treatment is actually real and which is placebo since they don't know.
- cpncrunch 12y agoThere are brain imaging studies that show the placebo effect in action for depression and pain. Also, given what we know about psychological stress causing symptoms such as headaches, pain, diarrhea, etc. I think it would be impossible for the placebo effect not to have "actual benefits".