Placebo response growing over time – but only in America
A new study finds that rising placebo responses may play a part in the increasingly high failure rate for clinical…
Antidepressant use primes brain for placebo effect
Putting a twist in a run-of-the-mill medication-versus-placebo trial has revealed that prior treatment with antidepressants appears to prime the brain…
High incidence of placebo use in psychiatry
Doctors may not like talking about it, but it’s becoming much more prevalent. A recent McGill University survey found that…
Uh-oh, placebo
Modern medicine is based on what is considered the strongest possible evidence: the placebo-controlled trial. But placebos vary widely in…
Do antidepressant meds work through personality change?
New evidence suggests that popular selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant medications can substantially change patients’ personalities, and researchers speculate…
Genetics linked to placebo response
Placebos – sugar pills designed to represent “no treatment” in a clinical treatment study – work nearly as well as…
Expensive Placebo Works Better Than Cheap One
A 10-cent pill doesn’t kill pain as well as a $2.50 pill, even when they are identical placebos, according to…
Ritual A Critical Element Of Placebo Effect
The nature of the so-called placebo effect continues to tantalize scientists as an increasing number of lab experiments are detecting…
Placebo Effect Produces Real Painkillers
A study from the University of Michigan (U-M) has provided the first direct evidence that endorphins – the brain’s own…
Cough Medicines No Better Than Placebo
Two active ingredients found in a number of non-prescription cough medicines are no better than non-medicated syrup for children with…