Placebos Might Work Even If You Know They Don't
Everyone thinks that the placebo effect works only because people think they're taking a real, working drug. But a new study seems to indicate that people who are taking placebos feel better even when they know the pills don't work.
Harvard Medical School's Ted Kaptchuck wanted to check the limits of the placebo effect. So he and his colleagues gave pills that couldn't be absorbed by the body to 37 people with irritable bowel syndrome, and no treatment at all to 43 others who suffered from the same ailment.
And wouldn't you know—59 percent of the people taking the placebo felt better, compared with only 35 percent of those who had no treatment at all. It needs to be replicated—other researchers think the size of the benefit is too small. And Kaptchuk thinks it wouldn't work on things like tumors, or microbial infections—only on "illnesses where self-appraisal is important, such as depression," as he told New Scientist.
But that won't prevent me from leaping to conclusions! Medicine is a lie! Science is crap! Just take sugar pills for whatever! Don't even take sugar pills! Just pretend! You'll live forever!
