Is placebo affect language warranted here? This would imply that some talk therapies produce a real effect and others a placebo effect. Besides, doesn't talk therapy have 'real' biological effects such as the reduction of stress hormones (whether or not the 'talker' is a psychologist/psychiatrist)? --Mike
--- On Thu, 10/2/08, Christopher Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Christopher Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [tips] Psychoanalytic Therapy Wins Backing To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, October 2, 2008, 8:17 AM [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Yes. Note that the studies were called "randomized controlled", not > "placebo-controlled". I suspect that many of these may well have used no > treatment as the control rather than a credible placebo condition. If so > the findings are no big deal, because we've known for a long time that > there's a substantial placebo effect associated with psychodynamic > therapy. Psychodynamic therapy does work. It just isn't any better than a > good fake treatment. And expensive. > It is a rare event that Steven and I agree, but I noticed this too. There is a book just out, written by David Jopling, a philosopher here at York, that argues that pretty well ALL forms of psychotherapy (not just psychoanalysis) relies heavily on placebo effects for their putative effectiveness. It is called _Talking Cures and Placebo Effects_ and is published by Oxford. An interesting read. An interesting topic for class discussion. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo Office: --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
