Tag Archives: Media

Placebos in the Reader’s Digest

09/04/2018 Michael Doneman

You know that something’s popular when it pops up in the Reader’s Digest. This article comments on the “growing scientific interest in the placebo effect”, and notes:

Because placebos are believed to work only on condition of expectation of positive relief, they were considered to be good only for psychosomatic ailments and not real physical ailments.

But this does not seem to be borne out by recent studies, nor by years of experience of many people around the world. Placebos have been shown to result in the real cure of physical ailments such as a broken heel or torn ligament, not only psychological ones.

Interesting podcast on the placebo effect

12/07/2017 Michael Doneman

This is fascinating – well worth a 30 minute listen!

Broken heart? You need a placebo!

01/05/2017 Michael Doneman

All over the interwebs right now!

Researchers at the University of Colorado-Boulder studied 40 recently jilted volunteers and found they displayed less physical pain and felt better emotionally — even after receiving a fake drug.

“Breaking up with a partner is one of the most emotionally negative experiences a person can have, and it can be an important trigger for developing psychological problems,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Leonie Koban.

“In our study, we found a placebo can have quite strong effects on reducing the intensity of social pain,” she said.

Among the myriad stories covering this, check out the New York Daily News, MedicalExpress, and Science Daily.

Suggestible You

21/02/2017 Michael Doneman

In his book, ‘Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain’s Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal’ author Erik Vance explores placebos, hypnosis, and how beliefs influence bodily responses to pain.

“Placebos and beliefs generally is so much a part of our lives,” he tells Kishore Hari on a recent episode of the Inquiring Minds podcast. “It has an amazing power to change our bodies.”

Read the article here, or listen to the Podcast!

Energy drinks? Yep – it’s the Placebo Effect!

08/01/2017 Michael Doneman

‘Cognitive enhancers’? Oh, do us a favour. Highly hyped and highly price energy drinks like Red Bull are all about the sugar and the caffeine, that’s all. Lots of sugar and caffeine. So why pay the premium, the enormous mark-up? It’s marketing, probably one of the shiniest examples of the placebo effect in marketing. Some science on this over here.

Virtual Reality and the Placebo Effect

29/12/2016 Michael Doneman

‘VR Placebo interventions’ …! We do indeed live in a time of wonders. Research is being undertaken into the value of the emerging Virtual Reality technologies in treatment of mental illness. It’s early days, but the results so far are promising. Read more here.

The Guardian Weighs in on the Placebo effect

24/11/2016 Michael Doneman

An excellent article in The Guardian on the placebo effect.

‘There is now evidence showing some people, known as “placebo responders”, do feel or get better after unwittingly, or even wittingly, taking a placebo – and it’s not just psychosomatic. Several studies are pointing to a biological basis for the placebo effect, with the latest research focused on a region of the brain known as the mid-frontal gyrus, which runs along the frontal lobes just above the eyes.’

THE PLACEBO EFFECT AND … PETS!

24/11/2016 Michael Doneman

Placebo treatments seem to have an effect on pets … but is the effect on the pets themselves, or ‘second hand’ through a placebo effect on pet owners? Find out here.

More mainstream media on the placebo effect

07/11/2016 Michael Doneman

Interesting CNN article and video on the real -and growing – effects of fake pills. It concludes:

‘As most of us would guess, the placebo perceived by patients to be more expensive worked better than its seemingly lower-cost equivalent … Perceptions of cost are capable of altering the placebo response,.

Does branding have a placebo effect?

15/04/2016 Michael Doneman

Image: James Merry

It seems that using an esteemed name-brand piece of sporting equipment actually generates stronger results.

“Our results indicate that strong performance brands can cause an effect that is akin to a placebo effect,” researcher Frank Germann of the Department of Marketing at the University of Notre Dame said in a press release. “Our results also suggest that the use of a strong performance brand causes participants to feel better about themselves when undertaking a task—that is, to have greater task-specific self-esteem. This higher self-esteem lowers their performance anxiety which, in turn, leads to the better performance outcomes.”