This was even higher than the 30 per cent reduction seen in the real ultrasound group. Patients received either real or dummy ultrasound or no therapy at all.Īmazingly, the dummy ultrasound given by a therapist produced a 35 per cent reduction in facial swelling. A striking example of this was a 1988 study looking at the use of ultrasound to reduce pain and swelling after wisdom tooth extraction. Placebos can even produce tissue changes in the body.
In trials of aspirin for heart attack patients, the placebo caused nearly as much indigestion as the aspirin. They can produce significant side-effects. The power of placebos should not be underestimated. A classic example is the prescribing of antibiotics for viral illness such as the common cold. Doctors themselves can "believe" that their prescribing is having specific effects, even though it has been estimated that 35-45 per cent of modern-day prescriptions are unlikely to make a difference to the disease for which they are prescribed. Nor does the complexity of placebos stop there. The second group were told: "I cannot be certain what is the matter with you, but if you are not better within a few days, please come back".Īfter two weeks 64 per cent of those who received a positive consultation were better as compared to 39 per cent of those offered uncertainty. He divided them into two groups: one group received a "positive consultation" - they were offered a firm "diagnosis" and strong reassurance that they would speedily recover.
A Southampton general practitioner identified 200 patients who had symptoms such as headache, backache and tiredness, but in whom he was unable to make a specific diagnosis. That the doctor himself can act as a placebo has been documented in several studies. Trinity College academics, Petr Skrabanek and James McCormack, in their book Follies and Fallacies in Medicine, make the point that "pills and potions are not a necessary condition of the placebo effect". Placebos may have a powerful effect on the subjective aspects of illness such as pain, discomfort and stress. Equally, feeling unwell is not always the result of disease. Disease assumes the existence of a pathological process. Illness is what people feel when they are unwell. In an effort to understand the placebo effect, it is useful to make a distinction between illness and disease. Henry Beecher, a Harvard medical researcher, found that 35 per cent of patients experience therapeutic benefits from a placebo, regardless of their intelligence. Nor is it just a psychological tonic for the gullible. By the early 19th century, it had acquired its modern medical meaning - something "given more to please than benefit the patient".īut the placebo effect is more complex than giving a "sham" treatment to patients. The first words of a prayer for the dead are "Placebo Domino - I shall please the Lord". The word placebo comes from the Latin, meaning "I shall please". Bread pills have been extensively used as placebos and there have even been examples of placebo surgery. This research is one of the many examples of the "placebo effect" documented in the medical literature, and it is not confined to injections. "I should hope not" is your probable reaction to this statement, but let me explain.Ī 1954 study published in the American Journal of Medicine found that four out of 10 surgical patients suffering severe wound pain reported satisfactory pain relief after an injection of inert saline solution. I have never given a patient an injection of water or saline.