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The Placebo Effect

Posted by: biologyblog | April 19, 2009 | 2 Comments |



by Stephen Freedley

It as been common medical knowledge since the days of early medicine that placebo effects are a true and documented occurrence.  Moreover, physicians in the past have used innate pills as treatment for disorders.  Today, the medical field has recognized the benefits of the placebo effect.  By definition, this effect is caused by the patients belief that the treatment a physician gives will help in some way.  This belief has been shown to diminish pain, as well as help treat disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

This effect is a solid demonstration of what is known as the effects of the conscious mind on the body, or the mind/brain problem.  Even today, we still are just scratching the surface on the full effects of what our brains are fully capable of as well as what the extent of their control over the body is. 

  1. True or false?  We only use 10% of or brain currently.
  1. If the simple thought of a treatment working can trick our brain to helping relieve our ailments, what could the potential surmount to?
  1. Can you propose a study that would be sufficient to look at these effects?
  1. Would it be possible, in the future or today, to have the capability to cure oneself?

Source:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=placebo-effect-a-cure-in-the-mind

under: Scientist in Focus
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I wonder what makes the placebo affect work, from a physicological standpoint? Does the ingestion of a placebo pill cause receptors in the brain to flood with dopamine or affect to opiod receptors, similar to a painkiller?

when most (if not all) pharmaceutical drugs are in the testing phase, the experimenters account for the possibility of the placebo effect by using control groups. often times double-blinded studies are done where the experimenter and the subject don’t know if the individual is receiving the real treatment or the placebo.

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