So what is the adequate control group for a study where the placebo is the treatment? In this case, they use "no treatment" as the control so have they really proven anything beyond the fact that a physician instructing you to take a placebo (wink, wink), may have a placebo effect? What they actually told the patients was that they were "like sugar pills" and that they had "no active ingredient" (isn't that almost the definition of homeopathic "medications"?) and that they were made from inert substances. They printed the word "placebo" on the bottle. This assumes the average person knows the meaning of "inert" and "placebo". They also told the patients "they didn't have to believe in the placebo effect" which makes it sound as if there is an effect to believe in. Evidently many of the doctors only did this sheepishly which may have also sent a double message to the patient (this won't help but take it anyway) which the patients may have interpreted in many different ways.
Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ________________________________ From: Pollak, Edward [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 2:11 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Sham pills may help us—even without the sham This is not surprising to me given that classical conditioning can produce a "placebo effect" in rats. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, why can't any (classically) conditioned stimulus but regarded as a placebo? Ed Sham pills may help us—even without the sham Sham pills, known as placebos, have been used in countless medical studies for decades. By comparing their effects to those of real medicines, researchers can discount the possibility that the true drugs work merely because the idea of having been treated makes us feel better. But researchers say they now seem to have made a surprise discovery. Not only do the fake pills truly make some patients feel improved—that much was already known—but they can even work when the doctors drop any pretense that this is real medicine. For more see http://www.world-science.net/othernews/101222_placebo.htm Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Department of Psychology West Chester University of Pennsylvania http://home.comcast.net/~epollak/home.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, & bluegrass fiddler...... in approximate order of importance. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5f8a&n=T&l=tips&o=7630 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-7630-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-7630-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=7632 or send a blank email to leave-7632-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
