Fascinating article. @robinhanson argues that healthcare is often used to signal caring--which may be true, but it may also be true that caring is itself a widely effective form of healthcare.
A brilliant and engaging piece on the history & power of placebos. If science can find the molecular basis for placebo effects, does this make it 'real' medicine? And what does it mean for the scientific method more generally if placebos aren't 'inert'?
Really interesting implications for both trials and pt care. Is the placebo effect a "biological response to caring"? What if this involves the same pathways as Rx meds? And what if we're not all genetically wired to respond to placebos the same?
Is there a biological reason for why some people actually benefit from placebos? New research indicates there might be, and that could have huge implications for medicine.
Is there a biological reason for why some people actually benefit from placebos? New research indicates there might be, and that could have huge implications for medicine.
Fascinating question here: If sugar pills or sham acupuncture treatments induce the body to heal itself, why should we dismiss that as “just” the placebo effect?
RT @nytimes: Is there a biological reason for why some people actually benefit from placebos? New research indicates there might be, and that could have huge implications for medicine.
Now that #2019SAS abstract submissions are closed, we are back to tweeting about everything #affectivescience! Like this @nytimes article on #placebos. Favorite quote: “It seems that if the mind can be persuaded, the body can sometimes act accordingly.”
The placebo-controlled clinical trial is a cornerstone of the scientific methodology of modern medicine. Yet at its very logic lies a concrete scientific finding with its interpretation. What if *these* turn out to be wrong?
The "Placebome": Great read on the emerging science, molecular biology and genetics behind the placebo affect.
The INTERACTION between the patient and a healthcare provider is critical in modulating the effect.
Modern medicine is at risk of losing this
nyti.ms/2yZsKRIpic.twitter.com/MfTo9hs436
Is “the placebo effect a biological response to an act of caring; that somehow the encounter itself calls forth healing and that the more intense and focused it is, the more healing it evokes?”
Fascinating! ‘What if the placebo effect isn’t a trick? New research is zeroing in on a biochemical basis for the placebo effect — possibly opening a Pandora’s box for Western medicine’
Fantastic update on placebo research, via @nytimes. nytimes.com/2018/11/07/mag… In Death Foretold (amazon.com/Death-Foretold…), I explored beliefs among physicians in the self-fulfilling prophecy. But the new work regarding the biochemistry of the placebo effect is a whole other matter.
An upside of #Fantasyland: “A 2015 study analyzed 84 clinical trials of pain medication conducted between 1990 and 2013 and found that the efficacy of placebo had grown sharply, narrowing the gap with the drugs’ effect from 27% on average to just 9%.”
A fantastic, nuanced article on the placebo effect, including the research and wisdom of @Harvard placebo expert Ted Kaptchuk. Speaks to the complexity of science and the value of including interdisciplinary thinkers.
Read this superb article on the #placebo effect. Read it twice. Read it slowly. It’s why I believe the more you see the harder medicine gets. H/t @metaphysician #MedicineIsAMoralAct #EyesOpen cc @rallamee
"Give people a sugar pill, they have shown, and those patients — especially if they have one of the chronic, stress-related conditions that register the strongest placebo effects ... — will improve"
What if the Placebo Effect Isn’t a Trick? 'Should medical rituals be doled out according to genotype, with warmth and caring withheld in order to clear the way for the drugs?'
Good article on the placebo effect nytimes.com/2018/11/07/mag…. However, our previous work on the genetic association between placebo effect and COMT variant rs4680 has left me skeptical about its relevance nature.com/articles/s4143…
“the placebo effect is not just some constant to be subtracted from the drug effect but an intrinsic part of a complex interaction among genes, drugs and mind”
What if the #Placebo Effect Isn’t a Trick? via @NYTimes Phenomenal and fascinating read. Someday will we prescreen patients for susceptibility to placebo? #Pharmacogenetics will drive future treatments
This contradicts the logic underlying clinical trials. Placebo & drug may not involve separate processes, one psychological & one physical, that add up to the overall effectiveness of the treatment; rather, both may operate on the same biochemical pathway.