Its not that complicated. Jed suggested the appropriate control for placebo: No treatment at all.
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 10:20 PM, John Berry <berry.joh...@gmail.com> wrote: > This is obviously a complex issue. > But I think that strong belief as with hypnosis and other suggestions > can't be discounted (faith healers). > > There are people who have apparently died from being made to think they > they were having blood drain from their bodies. > And if someone goes into surgery with a death wish of a negative > expectation the Nocebo effect is apparently very dangerous. > > At the extreme ends of mind body relationship, there are people that > insist that those with multiple personality disorder/disassociative > personality disorder can gain and lose medical conditions such as diabetes > and eye colour can change between the personalities. > > Blisters have apparently been raised by pencils that hypnotized subjects > have been told is hot. > > So let's say that the mind body connection is complex, but that a sugar > pill will not always deliver a powerful mind body effect, which is not to > say it can't if there is not enough belief. > > I also recall an experiment very poorly recounted: rats being effected by > a 'ritual' where if a chemical was omitted the expected results > still occurred. > I don't recall the details but essentially this was somewhere between a > placebo effect on a mouse/rat a Pavlovian response. > > John > > > On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 3:05 PM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> If the studies I read are correct, this indicates the disease they are >> trying to cure with this particular drug usually goes away on its own. The >> "placebo effect" is not getting stronger. They happen to be treating a >> disease in a group of people where nature usually does a better job than >> medical science does. >> >> There are several diseases and syndromes that used to be treated >> aggressively but nowadays are often left alone because they usually go away >> after a while, or they cause no serious harm. Then there are diseases where >> some doctors recommend treatment and others do not, such as childhood >> hemangioma. >> >> - Jed > > >
