The Placebo Effect

A remarkable phenomenon in which a placebo effect, "a fake treatment" an inactive substance like sugar distilled water or saline solution", can improve a patient's condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful.  Expectations plays a potent role in the placebo effect, the more a person believes they are going to benefit from a treatment, the more likely it is that they will experience a benefit.

A placebo effect has clear influence on health yet very few people or doctors are at all interested in understanding its underlying meaning.  What researchers are now realizing is that positive beliefs don’t just work by quelling stress. They have a positive effect in helping the body maintain and repair itself.

Today, placebos are widely recognized as a potent inner pharmacy that we might someday harness. Optimism seems to reduce stress-induced inflammation and levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. It may also reduce susceptibility to disease by dampening sympathetic nervous system activity and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system.

The placebo effect is a big part of the effect of the drug," said, Ted Kaptchuk, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. In the new study, 50 percent of the drug's effect could be attributed to the placebo effect.  "The more you give a positive message, the more a drug works. In this case, our message was just as important as the pharmacology of the drug, In other words, patients may benefit from optimistic messages from their doctors which may enhance the effectiveness of a  pharmaceutical.

Thus, when patients enter their family's doctor's office they associate these medical surroundings with the possibility of feeling better, “the mind may make associations that lead to a positive health outcome.

In July 11, 2002, a study "A Controlled Trial of Arthroscopic Surgery for Osteoarthritis of the Knee" Many patients report symptomatic relief after undergoing arthroscopy of the knee for osteoarthritis.  The trial conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of arthroscopy for osteoarthritis of the knee.

A total of 180 patients who had osteoarthritis of the knee were randomly assigned (with their consent) to one of three groups. The first had a standard arthroscopic procedure, and the second had arthroscopic lavage. The third, however, had an incision, but the procedure was faked so that they didn’t know that they actually had nothing done. Then the incision was closed.

The results were those who had the actual procedures did no better than those who had the other procedures. They all improved the same amount.

The future goal is to understand the placebos effect so that we can intelligently become our own healer.