"To my surprise, it seemed to work for many of them."

In another post, I recommended utilizing the placebo effect to improve the likelihood of successful outcomes. An interesting study from the Harvard Medical School corroborates my contention. Further, they suggest that the placebo effect, far from being benign, is very effective therapy or treatment in and of itself.

“[Our] findings suggest that rather than mere positive thinking, there may be significant benefit to the very performance of medical ritual. I’m excited about studying this further. Placebo may work even if patients know it is a placebo. Not only did we make it absolutely clear that these pills had no active ingredient and were made from inert substances, but we actually had ‘placebo’ printed on the bottle. We told the patients that they didn’t have to even believe in the placebo effect. Just take the pills.” – Associate professor of medicine Ted Kaptchuk

Senior study author Anthony Lembo, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an expert on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (the subject diagnosis of the study) stated,

“I didn’t think it would work. I felt awkward asking patients to literally take a placebo. But to my surprise, it seemed to work for many of them.”

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How do you like them apples?

Next time you feel inclined to downplay or make fun of a placebo – or attribute most of a therapy’s value to the placebo effect – remember that the placebo effect is effective!

Study source: “Placebos without Deception: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Irritable Bowel Syndrome” – Ted J. Kaptchuk, Elizabeth Friedlander, John M. Kelley, M. Norma Sanchez, Efi Kokkotou, Joyce P. Singer, Magda Kowalczykowski, Franklin G. Miller, Irving Kirsch, Anthony J. Lembo. PLoS ONE 5(12): e15591. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015591