I agree with Pam's warning; however, there are clinical trials of "placebo
surgery" for the treatment of disorders other than Cancer and Parkinson's.
There was a story in the New York Times Magazine that described the success
of sham surgery for the treatment of arthritic pain in the knees (reference
information below). I tried a medline search to find a reference to a
refereed citation but did not have any luck.
Dennis
The Placebo Prescription
By Margaret Talbot
In the summer of 1994, a surgeon named J. Bruce Moseley found himself
engaged in an elaborate form of make-believe. Moseley had 10 patients
scheduled for an operation intended to relieve the arthritis pain in their
knees. The patients were men -- mos ...
January 9, 2000, Sunday
New York Times Magazine
Dennis M. Goff
Dept. of Psychology
Randolph-Macon Woman's College
Lynchburg, VA 24503
-----Original Message-----
From: Pamela Joyce Shapiro [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 12:06 PM
To: Michael J. Kane
Cc: TIPS
Subject: Anecdotes: was Question on experiments involving placebos
Michael,
In 1957 the ability to detect the presence of cancer in deep
body tissue was quite poor. Even if the patient's evident
tumors had regressed, malignant cells could still be present,
but undetectable, within the blood, bone or other organs.
The particular type of cancer is an important variable when
interpreting such anecdotes, as many cancers follow a natural
course of remission and advance even in the absence of treatment.
While I agree that state of mind (optimism, hope, belief in
treatment efficacy) is an important component of wellness and
recovery, it is clearly not sufficient to cure cancer.
Anecdotes like these place responsibility for illness within
the individual mind and create guilt and doubt among patients
who are fighting for their lives and still losing the battle.
Give me mere data, give me molecular evidence of cure, give me
science. Anecdotes make good reading, but unless they serve to
illustrate real and measurable effects, they do more harm than
good.
All my best,
Pam Shapiro
