Do you believe in the effects of placebos?

[Smashingdoozy]

[Sonorous]

Yes, up to a certain point. I mean, there are good reasons for why scientists have had to conduct certain studies as "double blind placebo controlled" ones.

Skip to 11:55:

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[RebelinSteel]

Yes I do, but only for somethings such as pain relief. A lot of what we go through body related our brains can often sort out if given the right conditions. There is an opposite to placebo which is nocebo. This is where we can become ill or worse due to the opposite of the placebo effect.

[RebelinSteel]

Just remembered, you can also do this with Alchol, you give someone what they believe is strong vodka and something like everyone else, they will sometimes act drunk like everyone else.

[FreyaRed]

No. For root treatment works only local anesthesia. There were some weirdos who tried with hypnosis and placebos to reduce the pain and begged after 10 seconds for an injection.

[IslaTheWitch]

I do believe in the placebo effect :D

if you have kids, you use placebos in awful amounts, lol

[Massageman]

I do not believe in the effect of placebos.

I DO believe in the "placebo effect", and there is a vast difference.

The placebo effect is more relating to the body/brain connection than a purely physical (non) reaction to a fake med.

[mstbooblover]

Imagination is far more strong than the will. Within some logic limits, yes, a placebo does work very well, especially when it comes to psychological issues. The mind has a very important infuence on the body.

[sawno]

They usually dont work on me. My mind is to powerful. And I am almost certain people tried placebos on me.

[exitseven]

I think if a person is a hypochondriac they can be helpful. I had an aunt who was taking a sugar pill. Everyone knew it was a placebo except for her.

[JacobJordan]

Belief is the only way placebos work. And they actually do work but it isn't a solid method of medical practice

[msc545]

You don't need to believe in it for it to work. That has been demonstrated repeatedly.

[JacobJordan]

@msc545 the entire point of a placebo is that you the consumer think/believe it is something other than it is.

[msc545]

You need to look more carefully at the research regarding placebos. That is not the point of placebo despite what you may think.

[JacobJordan]

@msc545 it is not what I think lol it is a fact. Part of the human trials for most of the work I have done involves a placebo effect where the subjects are given medication that does absolutely nothing. We don't tell them that as the point is for them to believe it and think it. In fact a 30 second Google on top of my own personal expertise on the subject says the same thing I am saying. "A placebo is used in clinical trials to test the effectiveness of treatments and is most often used in drug studies. For instance, people in one group get the actual drug, while others receive an inactive drug, or placebo" if you are planning to disagree on something it is best if you 1 know the subject which you are disagreeing on and 2 don't try and tell a guy who has expertise in that field that they are wrong lol.

[msc545]

I have no idea what you're doing and it doesn't really matter. However, sometimes try telling your subjects that it's a placebo. It won't matter and it will still work, assuming that you can continue to follow whatever protocol your employing.

[msc545]

As for you being a guy who knows everything about this. I am a PhD neuropsychologist with years of practice. I don't really want to argue this point with you any further.

[JacobJordan]

@msc545 and I am a PhD bio chemist that owns and worked at a lab. I design the product and study the effects on the body you deliver it and study the psychological effects lol. Of the 2 of us the guy that makes it and studies the physical outcome aught to know what the placebo does physically. You may have a different experience mentally with them.

[msc545]

I think you probably know what it does or doesn't do physically, but that does not automatically translate to mental effects as think we both know.

[JacobJordan]

@msc545 true. My statement may have been a bit to broad. The physical outcomes of placebos for people that know vs people that don't know are very different. Generally those who know it is a placebo their biology remains the same. Where as people who didn't know their biology typically alters itself due to the belief or thought they had the real thing.

[msc545]

So that's very interesting and I didn't know that. I probably should read some of the studies of the physical effects of placebos.

[JacobJordan]

@msc545 it is more in the blood work. To give a short explanation of it. Essentially when you or anyone takes a pill medication eat food whatever your body and your blood begin to activate to process this, absorb it etc. In your blood this can see as higher concentrations of iron, sodium, zinc, copper etc as these are consumed by your body for energy to process what you just swallowed. For placebos it is the same thing if you take a placebo and you believe it is real your body will attempt to process it the same way as if you took the real thing. This can also cause releases of chemicals that make hormones. However if you know that it is a placebo your body provides none of the extra minerals and metals resulting in a zero change in blood state. In addition on a cellular level strangely enough belief can increase healing of wounds. And we can see that in scans of patients who had accidents if they couldn't see the wound and were told that x had been done to speed up healing and they believed it. Their body would work faster to heal it. Had a woman about 7 years back who had gone to a hospital to get tests done because she was convinced she had cancer. We got her samples ran them through our standard procedures nothing. A couple weeks later she had gone back same thing. We got her samples nothing again. This happened maybe 8 times. The 8th time we could see cancer cells in her blood. 9th time it was far more. She managed to give herself cancer because she believed it so strongly. The doctor said she went to a therapist in an attempt to reverse her belief while in treatment for cancer. Strangest set of labs I ever had the misfortune of handling

[msc545]

@JacobJordan What is the nexus between the belief and the physiological change (s) you describe, if you know?

[JacobJordan]

@msc545 that I am unsure as I don't study things like brain scans though from biological studies there is an increase in chemical production that comes from believing in something. Most biological increases we see come from external sources; sleep, food, intimacy, chocolate, etc... I wouldn't presume to guess at what causes it. I do know that belief does light up a portion of the brain. Beyond that not yet clear why believing causes physiological changes. We know it causes them but why is not known

[msc545]

That is my take on it as well. Thanks for the good info!

[OlderAndWiser]

It effect is real, regardless of whether you believe it.

[WhitneySnow]

Yes. There’s medical evidence that they really do work if you believe they’re real.

[Friendlybro79]

It doesn't matter what I think about placebo effect because it's already proven to be real.

[msc545]

Yes, there is a definite placebo effect, but nobody knows why.

[camerum]

I was once told about an experiment where a factory was trying to figure out what the optimum light level was by varying the light level and seeing the production output.
The made the lights brighter, and the efficiency went up. So they tried darker, the efficiency went up. Lastly they tried the original level, and the efficiency went up. Turns out that the workers biased the experiment because they knew what was being varies and what the measurement was...

Tl;Dr - people can bias poorly constructed experiments just because they engage with the experiment.

[Bklynbadboy12]

Yes, I believe in it because it's all in their mind. Where the mind goes the body will follow

[NathanDavis]

definitely so...

[cnj421]

Yes! Delusions are real! Haha

[Nikki1989]

To a certain extent, yes.

[sheikalana]

I never took a placebo.

[Unit1]

I'm not convinced of it.

[loveslongnails]

I believe the mind is a powerful tool.

[Jennz6]

It’s all in your mind

[boobliker]

well yes as I have see it work on moo cows

[jjj101010]

For something’s yeah.

[laly520]

ig so

[Anonymous]

It's been proven to be real.

[DJB72]

In some cases, yes

[Wiredone]

No I don't

[CubaPirate]

Yes I do