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Ask Dr. J. a question here!
What are placebo effects?
When doctors do medical research, they are always
on the lookout for effects that appear to be due to a treatment
but in reality are due to other factors. This is particularly
the case when symptoms of an illness are variable and affected
by stress or emotions. It is also an important consideration
when the signs of an illness are subjective (reported by the
patient) rather than objective (measured by a lab test or
other equipment). However, even objective testing can be influenced
by subjective feelings.
Symptoms are also affected by expectations of
the test subject and even the person administering the test.
These are the reasons that medical researchers introduce controls
to their studies - to find out if the results are due to these
expectations. Placebo comes from the Latin word meaning to
please - the patient trying to please the doctor by reporting
that their symptoms are better as a result of the doctor's
treatment. The symptoms may actually be better, because we
know that the brain has a strong influence on the healing
process. But the symptoms may not be influenced by the treatment,
which is what the study is trying to determine. This is what
is meant by the placebo effect.
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