Friday, June 30, 2006
Placebos Work!
For the days and days since I've started this blog, I've wanted to put that headline up.
And now I have an excuse.
http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060630_placebo.html
"People who take their medicine regularly, even if it's a placebo, have a lower risk of death than those who don't..."
It seems to be more than positive thinking, but also a tendancy to comply with their health care practicioner. They are more likely to take care of themselves better, apparently. The experts are also saying that the give and take of someone caring and someone being cared for may also influence it.
But we can't take this as an excuse to say "anything goes". Obviously, the fact that doing something is better than doing nothing is why control groups need bogus pills or treatments to really be equalized with their legitimately treated comrades. But understanding why placebos work is equally important, since this will help us improve treatments that are proven to provide benefit. ¶ 8:50 AM
For the days and days since I've started this blog, I've wanted to put that headline up.
And now I have an excuse.
http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060630_placebo.html
"People who take their medicine regularly, even if it's a placebo, have a lower risk of death than those who don't..."
It seems to be more than positive thinking, but also a tendancy to comply with their health care practicioner. They are more likely to take care of themselves better, apparently. The experts are also saying that the give and take of someone caring and someone being cared for may also influence it.
But we can't take this as an excuse to say "anything goes". Obviously, the fact that doing something is better than doing nothing is why control groups need bogus pills or treatments to really be equalized with their legitimately treated comrades. But understanding why placebos work is equally important, since this will help us improve treatments that are proven to provide benefit. ¶ 8:50 AM
