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$Title{Do Placebos Really Work?}
$Subject{placebos effect mind inactive chemicals suggestibility ill defined
symptom symptoms medication medications medicine medicines treatment
treatments placebos mental emotional condition conditions sugar pill pills
behavior behaviors}
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Copyright (c) 1992,1993   Tribune Media Services, Inc.


Do Placebos Really Work?


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QUESTION:  I am mystified by the notion that any ordinary substance can work
like medications in some people.  I am referring to "placebos" and while
watching an old rerun of MASH, the doctors actually seemed to stop pain in the
patients with ordinary water injections.  Could this really happen or is it
another case of an overworked writer's imagination?

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ANSWER:  To a very great extent, you can be a believer of most of the
incidents you have seen on MASH, and the episode you describe could most
certainly have occurred.  The "placebo effect" is a most intriguing one, for
in many cases it seems as if the mind has exerted an effect on the body equal
to that of an active medication.  But such is the case, and many of the
medical treatments prescribed by ancient physicians relied heavily on these
mechanisms.  How else can you explain the "beneficial" effects of such diverse
things as purging, sweat therapy, leeches, cupping, and blood letting, applied
to weakened and sick individuals?  The scientific literature contains several
articles which review this phenomenon, and which find that placebos may be
effective from 30 to 40 percent of the time, even higher in some types of mild
depression.  Even in the clinical trials used to evaluate the effectiveness of
new medications, patients who are in the control group, and are specifically
given inactive chemicals, will also show improvements in the condition being
tested in about 1/3 of the cases.  Some of the reasons for these mysterious
workings may be the desire of the patient to be a "good" patient and respond
to the doctor's influence, the results of suggestibility, or a compelling
desire to feel well.  It is a difficult to measure these results with
accuracy, but because of the tremendous positive results which may be seen, it
is important that much more study be dedicated to finding the explanation for
this amazing effect.  The results of such investigations could lead to
reducing the number of medications or doses of medications in use, with a
similar reduction in unwanted side effects as well.

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The material contained here is "FOR INFORMATION ONLY" and should not replace
the counsel and advice of your personal physician.  Promptly consulting your
doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical
problem.