The placebo effect

[TaoPiet]

@robertwc82 No, we underestimated ourselves and overestimated the 'holy' doctor.

[SoulZuesFtw]

can this work on cancer?

[themongru]

@SoulZuesFtw Yes, I believe it can and has worked for cancer treatment.

[PLACEBOgarbage]

special needs video brought me here = )

[thedeeliciousplum]

Thank you so much for sharing this Ben Goldacre talk on the placebo effect. It is often that I am presented with questionable pseudoscience based explanations of "healing". Our species may not be in possession of a complete and a thorough knowledge of the placebo effect, yet it is the most reasonable explanation for the biological mechanisms that promote the lessening of pains, of discomforts and of the various symptoms of numerous ailments and such. Thank you.

[soniclovesamygirl]

when he keeps mentioning sugar, I keep imagining L freaking out over the sugar

[dudepal187]

How do animals experience the placebo effect?

[blenderpanzi]

@dudepal187 As he said through the people around them who somehow signal the animals that they expect them to get better. Maybe it's just that the humans are more happy and thus the animal is more happy and heals faster or something like this.

[WhelkDoctor1]

Dear Dr Goldacre, although I'm not a fan of science fiction, I looked at your website recently and noted with interest that around 90% of the contributors are male, a majority of which appear to have (judging by the comments) an emotional age range of between 12 and 14 years of age. As an expert, I was wondering whether you could tell us whether we should read anything significant into this.

[thedeeliciousplum]

@WhelkDoctor1 Hi, I thought about what you shared. Your observations are not unreasonable. Yet and may I add that Dr. Goldacre does provide one accessible means of the numerous means for our species to explore of the items that he passionately and compassionately shares of. Had I a more masterful grasp of the Natural Sciences, I may opt for reading of and exploring the published literature of thingies like the placebo effect. Mind you, I am not contesting your comment, just trying to add to it.

[MacHead31]

What is we act like give medication to a patient that really will help them but we act like it will not do a lot of good. Will that person get better slower?

[youxknowxyouxluvxit]

@MacHead31 lolwut

[MrsLOLify]

is it placebo if for example a person is dumb and gets low marks on their tests and there is a perfume and a person tells that the perfume will make the person smarter when it doesnt,but that the person gets a higher score on the test .

[youxknowxyouxluvxit]

@MrsLOLify yep that would be a placebo effect. Like people who carry "lucky charms" scoring better on tests when they have their "lucky charm" . . . . but note that when they don't have their lucky charm they score lower than they normally would, kind of a negative placebo effect lol

[Chr0nalis]

@youxknowxyouxluvxit

it's called 'nocebo' effect

[keinve2]

@rakimthegod1 That is not a side effect of a lot of sugar. That is the effect of sugar.

[NIGHT454]

Sad many people donth know about the placebo effect and they have to pay the full price on their medication

[keinve2]

@NIGHT454 Its not guaranteed to work. And the fact is, you need to believe it will work; that's why when they give you the placebo, they don't tell you you are getting a placebo.

[marvincooley]

¿How could any science separate the “real medicine” effect from the placebo effect? How much of the “real medicine” efficacy is the placebo effect? Oh and homeopathy is "real medicine" it is just not understood by most scientist nor do they want to understand it or the placebo effect.

[keinve2]

@marvincooley Actually, studies have been done on this. Homeopathy works as a placebo; on a skeptic, it has the effect of drinking water. As for the placebo effect, it is known that it will escalate the effects (that is, give them a muscle relaxant and tell them its a muscle relaxant, and you will get better results than if you don't tell them what they are getting). So, yes. They have done studies; Doctors do want to understand ways to save lives. Shocking, I know.

[marvincooley]

¿How could any science separate the “real medicine” effect from the placebo effect? How much of the “real medicine” efficacy is the placebo effect?

[FlyingFridges]

Powebalance Bracelet is the exact example of a placebo.

[xxxxyobdab]

I looked up homeopathy and I actually believe it works. Basically what I understood is that it fights with fire/poison with poison.

Now fighting fire with fire does work it's how some forest fires are put out, by burning the future fuel of the fire till it runs out and dies. As with poisons some poisons due cancel each other out but while reading it said homeopathy uses small doses so I was thinking of snake tamers, they build an immunity over time.

[AudioCase]

Oh no, he's been pescribed a sugar pill and one of the sideafects is uncontrollable eyebrow movements : )

[malibu2001]

tthis doctor his funny, placebo = I don't know how this happened.

[thelevitatorss]

try to exlplain my videos

[exposefraud]

"Thank God we have Homeopathy to advance our understanding of health."

Well, that certainly brought a smile to my face!

[Kingfillins]

Not wishy washy. No caring for people as they need to be cared for is not wishy washy, its basic care. And yes he learned this from Homeopathy.

But he cant even admit that thats where he learned it.

WHY? Because he killed the messenger.

[Kingfillins]

He speaks as if he knows what he is talking about, but is clearly trying to prove something. This is clear propaganda. One can have no belief in Homeopathy and it works. It works on plans for heavens sake. Is that a placebo?

Thank God we have Homeopathy to advance our understanding of health.

We also know that a large percentage of big pharma drugs are useless and pure placebo, but he doesn't mention that.

He clearly has an agenda, and he cant be trusted.

[Kingfillins]

Mind having power over the body "not in a flaky new age way"... So when science suggests it, its sold and not flaky, but if you use alternative treatments and suggest that the mind is the builder etc its "flaky".

ONE COULD SAY THAT THE "FLAKY NEW AGE" APPROACH IS IN FACT PROVEN AND SCIENTIFICALLY BASED.

But science still cant explain how the placebo works.

A few years ago this guy would have been kicked out of his profession as being a total quack and laughed at.

[hmspinaforethisisspa]

@Kingfillins actually dude, we CAN explain the placebo effects - it has to do with the release of endogenous opioids by the brain, most likely as a result of classical conditioning to perceiving "healing" stimuli. And please... PLEASE don't delude yourself into thinking that homoeopathy is scientifically proven - not only will you be wrong, you'll get laughed at quite a lot

[summer20105707]

I once heard a story of a weight lifter who thought he couldnt lift a certain weight. Until somebody switched the LBS label on it to make it look like it was less then it was. The result was the lifter ended up lifting MORE then he originally thought he could.

Perhaps mind over matter does work.

[alldown2me]

People say homeopathy works because of the placebo effect, however, I have cured illness in animals with remedies...how is that placebo?

[mrjedidja]

@alldown2me Placebo works in animals and children too. Peter Fishers himself admits this.

[LAnonHubbard]

Great video. I wish the NHS would move away from homeopathy and investigate doing the things Ben suggested and others; nicer environment, more time talking to patients, caring more rather than production line style treatments from the GP.

[DefaultPosition]

Similar to placebo I heard there has been investigation into the phenomena of ceremonies. Even making up your own ritual and carrying it out on a patient can lead to increased recovery rates. This is relevant to faith healing and voodoo beliefs.

[ZarlanTheGreen]

I could give someone a placebo pill, without a single lie.

I'd basicly tell them that the pill will make them better

...and it would

...and I'd know it would.

I.e. I wouldn't be lying.

[Cozzi0]

Mind over matter.

[abbythesuperfreak]

so I suffered the pain of the freakin injection for nothing LOL

[Roelisc]

These "Clinical Trials" .. The patients never knew or were never told? Will the placebo effect keep working on a patient where it has worked before but without the patient having any prior knowledge and it being revealed to them what has been going on? Im aware that the concious mind is powerful, but the unconcious is otherwordly and something we probably will never understand. This is fascinating..

[simw7]

this says alot about prayers,..like the faith healers thing

[james1x1x1x1]

will the placebo effect not work on us since we now know?

[primzahl13]

@james1x1x1x1

Only if you know that you're just receiving placebos. But if you do, they're not placebos.

[Modnar357]

He made a mistake in there. Dummy pills can have side effects, which gives us the nocebo effect. The side effects usually mimic those of the medication that is said to have been given to the patient.

[robertwc82]

perhaps we have underestimated the amazing power of refined sugar.

[Roboburrr]

bwahahah

[DKshad0w]

@robertwc82

I think you are on to something here. We need to test this, but what will we use as a placebo?

[ghuegel]

The important message for the individual is that your attitude is crucial. If you believe that you're healthy and able the future is bright, you will be healthier, more functional, and happier. Balance that with skepticism and the willingness to seek help/treatment for your problems, and you'll get the best of both the placebo effect and actual treatment.

[SophistAtheist]

very intersting

[Renshato]

oh crap, what if now i get surgery but think it's just fake? it's like a backwards placebo effect.

[CapnDingo]

I have asthma and trust me, placebo effect does NOT affect asthma. If a doctor sent me home with a dummy inhaler, I'd be back later that day hacking and wheezing and with a lawyer. :P Maybe not a lawyer, but I'd be intensely pissed off. I think the placebo effect, while certainly something that really happens, is only for little things like headaches that actually can be affected by your state of mind. Because no matter how happy and carefree I feel, I still can't breathe. :P

[keithapm]

@CapnDingo It would work well in the cases where the asthma is psychosomatic. Some people naturally grow out of asthma as they get older, but carry on thinking they have it, and that manifests itself in the surfacing of the symptoms of asthma, hacking and wheezing as you said. In their case a placebo would probably work.

[nancybrownlee]

Asthma is not psychosomatic. Thickened bronchial mucus and inflamed bronchii are not psychosomatic. PERIOD, FULL STOP. Asthma may be triggered by infection (viral or bacterial), allergy, cold weather, or exercise, and no one ever outgrows it- though as a tiny child grows and the bronchial tubes enlarge, asthma may become less frequent and/or less severe. The idea that it's a psychosomatic symptom of emotional distress or mental illness was thoroughly medically disproved decades ago.

[kellyneill]

Psychosomatic illness is not implicative of an imagined ailment, but a measurable physiological response linked to thought and belief. An honest physician will tell you that asthma sufferers have better-than-average responses to placebo treatments.

[zenhemmo]

Send a h0t nurse to me and I will feel better instantly :P

[ad627]

The placebo effect can be can be harnessed through meditation.

[ferglitz]

Good to have a discussion concerning a National Health Service.

Difficulty for the US is the idea of insuring minorities and illegals.

[billygutter01]

I've often wondered so much money gets spent on non-curative pseudo-science like homeopathy, when real gains could be made by better understanding and, eventually, harnessing the placebo effect.

I'm glad that this is actually being done!

It's like finding out you didn't waste your coin at the wishing well.

[ChaosAngel667]

@billygutter01 even more sad is the fact that real scientist have to waste their time debunking this nonsense.

Every coin which go to homoeopathy is one coin not going to science research and actually a coin used to stop the science development.

Nice to meet you.

[crisis123456789]

@billygutter01 - unfortunately the NHS still arent listening to their own advice, and thats why people are still going to alternative where they harness placebo very well (although of course they think its energy healing, sigh.)

My gf is always in and out of hospitals and doctors surgeries and we have been to a few around the country. The staff are still unfriendly, stressed and rude. The settings are dull at best. And if you want to lose all sense of positivity with life, go to the NHS.

[Atalantius]

This video has been Pharyngulated.

[triph]

Very informative, thanks!

[jasonoatmeal]

he doesnt talk at all about ppl who act and report that there doing better when thare in fact there condition has not changed... super duper vid though

[8tropos]

This is a very good explanation of the placebo effect. Thank for that !

[lipgloss675411]

i only watched this coz of charlie xx

[RandomCaprisun]

charlie rated 5 stars

[jonesownss]

lol

[dukehey2]

This makes me wonder about the efficacy of staple prescription drugs.

[kocolkb]

The efficacy is totally right. Look up the double blind trials, every pr. drug must be trialed that way.

[kocolkb]

Lookup Double Blind Trials in wiki. Explains a lot.

[IlGreven]

...which is why they test them against sugar pills, to make sure that they are better than the placebo effect.

[PeteD85]

"This makes me wonder about the efficacy of staple prescription drugs. "

Why? To sell a drug a company has to show through lots of testing that it works better then a placebo. That why in studies they have a control group that takes a placebo.

[ginckgo]

They still work, but they work better if you administer them in the 'right' way (positive environment, colour code, etc).

[bootsybumble]

My favourite author providing a very concise laymans explanation on the Placebo effect.

[ficklefiend]

Viagra should totally not be blue...

[NielsKiel]

@ficklefiend you are wrong. one has to be relaxed to get an erec.... ah, well to have some fun, and blue works best as a downer

[Themixedtwits]

Fantastic!