Placebo Effect

What is the placebo effect?

• Placebo effect definition
• Placebo pills
• Nocebo effect

Placebo effect definition

When a person believes that the medication that he takes or the medical treatment is causing him to fill better, even when the treatment has no biological effect.

The placebo effect works better for psychosomatic or mental conditions.

A sick person can get well faster, by drinking sugar water, when he believes that he got a powerful drug. This effect is used by witch doctors to "cure" sick people. This practice might be dangerous to the patient, when he avoids proper medical treatment.

Placebo pills

Placebo pills are used in medical treatment, when the physician suspects that the patient's symptoms are in his mind only and the patient has no real disease. The physician subscribes sugar pills or vitamins

Nocebo effect

When a person believes that the medication that he takes or the medical treatment is causing him to fill bad, even when the treatment has no biological effect (like when taking a placebo). The nocebo effect is the opposite of the placebo effect.

 

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See also

• What is magic?
• Who was clever Hans?
• Is astrology real or fake?
• Can people predict the future?
• Is mind reading possible?