Fnord wrote:
Placebo Effect: The engagement and exploitation of a person's imagination in the treatment and cure of an imaginary illness.
Which part of
visagrunt wrote:
Even when a patient knows that a placebo is being given for symptoms, the placebo effect can still be observed. Not only can it be observed in patients' subjective assessments of their own conditions, it can also be observed in empirical fashion.
did you fail to read?
While subjective presentations (such as chronic pain or anxiety presentations) are strong candidates for placebo effect, it also is demonstrable in a wide variety of measurable circumstances. Hypertension, asthma and COPD, ulcer, glandular enlargements, cardiac disorders (including cardiomegaly, heart failure, arhythmia and angina) are just a few of the conditions in which we can observe real and measurable improvements in relation to placebo treatment.
Are placebos good medicine? I don't think that there's one answer. Certainly as a physician I would never prescribe a placebo without the patient's knowledge unless I was engaged in
bona fide research with appropriate controls in place. But I will certainly explore placebo treatment with patients where there is good reason for doing so.
_________________
--James
21 Nov 2011, 2:48 pm
