The Placebo Effect

I have just discovered that placebos are not actually inert substances which can fool people who think they need something. They can actually trick your brain into releasing chemicals which can alleviate pain.

I have always thought that the placebo effect was just something that skewed scientific studies. The placebo effect meant that scientists never quite knew the real effect of drugs or treatments they were testing due to the placebo effect.

However, studies have found that placebos are one-half to two-thirds as powerful as morphine in relieving severe pain of any kind because they can produce real physiological changes in the brain. If you believe you have ingested a pain killer, your brain will release pain-relieving chemicals which reduces pain. This was proven in a dental study in California in 1978 where researchers gave patients who were given placebos for pain, a drug, naloxone, which neutralizes the effects of morphine. The naloxone worked in the same way on the placebo effect as it did with morphine.

A placebo is defined as an inert substance that has no physiological effect on a problem - it comes from Latin for "I shall please". This may have to be renamed or redefined or both.

Ethics aside, cases could be made for prescribing placebos to people with allergies or weakened immune systems or who are pregnant or nursing. Any one who shouldn't or can't deal with the side effects of other medication, would benefit from placebos.

If this were the case, I wonder if they would still work on skeptics?