The placebo effect works in 30% of cases. As a professional patient, I don't get why its given such a bad rep, we should use it for what it's worth!
That a harmless fake or sham treatment can work in one third of cases is a testament to the body's own healing mechanism, and the powerful connection between mind and body.
The original "Happy Pill" Prozac was apparently only 3% more successful than a placebo in countering depression when it was FDA approved in the seventies, and in a study released in 2008 it was shown to have no better effect than a placebo. And it then had 40 million users worldwide...
Depression and chronic pain are long time companions, and since chronic pain strongly affects the brain - imagine what the placebo effect can do to improve chronic pain conditions!
So the question is: if you absolutely convince yourself that a certain medical treatment will work - doesn't that mean you can have the effectiveness of the treatment PLUS the effect of your own placebo effect?
Double power, sounds like a win/win situation to me...
Good point Anna! This has been one of the conventionalists' arguments against i.e. homeopathy: "it's just placebo". Just placebo? If it works, AND there are not even side effects, what's the problem? Just because you can't prove HOW it works wouldn't bother me as long as it works.
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