Rick raises some big questions, all of which are interesting. A careful examination of the mechanisms associated with placebos should also include conditioning mechanisms that produce attenuation of the pharmacological effect of active drugs (like the tolerances that are classically conditioned to alcohol, opiates, and other drugs that create dramatic changes in physiology).
The effect of conditioning is probably not uniform. It might vary with the degree to which the substance ingested can produce homeostatic imbalances. And the association with environmental cues during conditioning will play a role, as evidenced by the problems with ODs when the large tolerance dose of an opiate is ingested in a novel envrionment. I expect sorting all this out will take some time and the answer won't be simple! Claudia Stanny --- 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=7648 or send a blank email to leave-7648-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
