Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our emotional distress

Re:Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our e... by kube-system on Wednesday April 12, 2023 @11:49AM (#35541732)

Because it isn't quite that simple. Overprescription of antibiotics isn't usually done only for the placebo effects, but other social reasons as well. A significant subset of patients react poorly to "it's probably viral and so we probably can't do anything". As bad as antibiotic overuse is, lying to patients and fraudulently prescribing a treatment is still much worse than giving someone antibiotics in the 5% chance that something is bacterial.

I don't think that lying to patients to falsely reinforce their untrue beliefs is a solution to the problem -- it'll probably create an additional problem by reinforcing beliefs of the legitimacy of pseudoscience.

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Re:Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our e... by treeman79 on Wednesday April 12, 2023 @12:07PM (#35541994)

On a 4 page list of my notes on issues and treatments I mentioned that my symptoms always got better on doxycycline for a couple of months. My ancient neuro-ophtomogist oh, you have Sjogrens. I’m like what’s that? Apparently he had seen that many times before.

Turned out he was right.

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Re:Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our e... by jcutrell on Wednesday April 12, 2023 @12:02PM (#35541922)

I think there’s a chance here to actually tell them the truth.

“This stuff is not studied to work. It is a placebo.” OP study says this can still be effective.

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Re:Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our e... by kube-system on Wednesday April 12, 2023 @12:16PM (#35542142)

Although not as effective as deceptive placebos. I personally suspect that the subset of people for which honest placebos work well overlaps significantly with the same subset of people who already believe "pill = good" above the expert advise of their doctors.

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