Placebo Effect

Placebo Effect

The Beecher story, the origin of the placebo effect myth, likely didn’t happen

Mike Hall -
The most-cited example of the powerful placebo is Henry Beecher using saline instead of morphine... except, it likely never happened
Placebo Effect

An overdose on placebo pills can cause adverse reactions… but not because of the nocebo effect

Mike Hall -
A man who overdosed on experimental pills felt sure he was dying, until he found out he was in the placebo arm... but it was not a nocebo effect.
Placebo Effect

Placebo surgery: why performing fake operations doesn’t actually help anyone

Mike Hall -
Placebo surgeries do not work – if a surgery performs no better than placebo, it means that operation doesn't work, not that placebos are powerful
Placebo Effect

Does pill packet branding change the placebo response, or is this just another placebo myth?

Mike Hall -
How expensive a pill packet looks is said to influence the size of its placebo effect but, once again, the evidence is sorely lacking
Placebo Effect

Pacemakers don’t work when they’re switched off – we should doubt studies that say otherwise

Mike Hall -
Among the many odd claims made about the placebo effect is that pacemakers work even before they're switched on - which obviously isn't true
Placebo Effect

The evidence for pill colour impacting placebo effects gets flimsier the more you examine it

Mike Hall -
The idea that the colour of a pill influences what placebo response you get is based on a succession of badly designed or badly interpreted trials
Placebo Effect

Does the colour of a pill really influence what kind of placebo effect you’ll experience?

Mike Hall -
It's said that pill colour influences what placebo effect people experience, but the primary source for this claim is flimsy at best
Placebo Effect

Religion is simply a powerful placebo – offering priests a sense of ritual, but little else

Colin Brewer -
Theatrical but ultimately ineffective, religion may be the ultimate placebo effect - as 17th Century priest Jean Meslier realised 300 years ago
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