Placebo Effect Chapter 1

Structuralism, our first major school of thought was developed by Edward Titchener and the primary focus of structuralism is the breaking down of mental processes into one basic component. In that regard, introspection was a primary element Titchener used to reveal elements of consciousness and to analyze inner processes of the mind. Shortly after this school of thought made an entrance into the psychological world, other schools of thoughts were formulated and functionalism was one of those schools.

In the last section of the article the author explains the many issues that have arisen with the discovery of the placebo effect and the many challenges that the placebo effect faces before it is accepted as a common medical practice. One major issue the author brings up is the fact that the placebo effect is not the same for everyone. The author explains that not everyone can take a placebo and expect positive results. In order to explain this variability in the article the author cites Robert Trivers, an evolutionary biologist, of Rutgers University. Trivers explains

During the second world war, medical supplies in the barracks were diminishing and injuries were piling up for American troops. One nurse, unable to face telling a soldier the morphine was gone, assured him the shot of saline water she gave him would alleviate his pain. Incredibly, it did. This nurse was working under a surgeon named Beecher, who eventually published a work called “The Powerful Placebo” (REFwired) that led US Congress to implement placebo control groups. This became the measure of whether a drug went to production worldwide.

“A placebo effect is defined as the psychological or psychophysiological effect produced by placebos.” (Shapiro & Morris, 1978)

the Placebo effect is interesting and open minding video, specially how the open the knee of the patient without doing anything, and how that made them feel relive. I like the part of positive thinking and working out and being more active.

Many people would have experienced their illness have been cured by taking inactive medication. Imagine that you are having a harsh flu, sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. As waiting for the nurse's call to see the doctor, you are feeling that your body is as heavy as an elephant, repeatedly sneezing and coughing. You are wishing that your turn is right next to try to distract yourself from your pain, and you are hoping whatever the doctor describes will work. After a long wait, you eventually see the doctor and take the medication that the doctor prescribed religiously. After a few weeks, you feel that you are feeling better and return to the doctor's room, and you realize that what you have been prescribed

The placebo effect merely emphasizes an individual's belief that something will happen. Once this belief is put into place, the power of self-persuasion comes into effect, and the ability to trick one's own brain becomes much easier. To summarize, if one thinks something will work, the chances of it actually working increase greatly. Dr. Hall, a woman who has devoted great time to the study of placebos has come up with a four variable explanation of how and why they work. These variables include “patient expectancy; motivation (the desire to improve one's health); a certain amount of conditioning, including from advertising; and endogenous opiates, or pain-relieving chemicals produced in the brain, which copy the effect of pain-relievers

The word placebo comes from the Latin phrase meaning “I shall please.” A placebo is a treatment or medicine to aid in the process of making you feel better. A placebo does not actually treat an illness or sickness. The human mind is trained to believe that taking pills improves one’s well-being and therefore makes us feel better. Placebos can come in many forms. Some of the most familiar forms of placebos are sugar pills, aspirin, injections, minerals, and antibiotics. It is generally given to individuals who are in severe pain and there is currently no treatment available. A placebo can also be given when the patient constantly requests the provider for medication. Placebos are also primarily used in diseases where pain is a major

We’ve all heard the joke before. Visualize being a doctor and lying about treatment for a patient. Kind of scary right? However, let us not forget that this patient has miraculously healed from said treatment. Does that make a difference in the fact stated before? That is exactly what is deliberated in a doctor’s mind when prescribing a placebo to their patient. For a moment imagine being the patient. How would one feel? Possibly ill? In desperate need of something to rid them well again, right? Essentially, being a patient, one will fundamentally place all of their trust into whatever the doctor prescribes without means of concern. Consequently, the patient discovers their treatment has been confirmed to have no effect, but they became better. After taking what the doctor prescribed, the patient more or less expected to ensure healthy. So they did. This remarkable medical therapy evidently validates to people that the “placebo effect” functions as expected; even if patients are unaware they are receiving a so-called ersatz treatment.

People might define a false belief in different ways, but reflecting on my past experiences, I can define a false belief as a view – of something, held by a particular individual or a group of people which originates from the lack of/false information. A misbelief is not always a negative thing or something that needs to be avoided, because I believe that misbeliefs are not intentional. With that said, I than believe that there are in fact, quite a few exceptions to this principle.

Placebo refers to any medical treatment that is inert. The placebo has long been used in investigation trials to accurately test the effectiveness of a new health care treatment, such as a medicine or drug. A placebo is essential to the behaviour of many systematically-based proven trials. Sugar pill is one of the example of the placebo. In order to test the placebo effect, some scientist will use two groups, the first group will take the drugs and the second group will take the placebo. None of the members of the two groups know whether they are taking active or inactive substance. Sometimes, not even the researches know or this is what they called the double blind test. The effects of the drug and placebo from both groups will be compared

he placebo effect has many positives and negatives. Some of the positives are theoretically if the patient believes in the drug it can help alleviate physical or psychological symptoms or even disease, like in Dr. Wright's case. Another positive is being told something will help them can at least put a patient at easy even if it doesn't help cure them. Also it is generally not harmful in studies because it is just a sugar pill, and contains no actual drug, although if the person taking the placebo though it would hurt them then it could have a nocebo type of affect on them. The last positive is that if it can be found to cure people it is very affordable, due to it generally being made of sugar.

It is called as Placebo Effect which widely used as a control drug in clinic trials and medical treatment. It also called I shall please and had being used to the society by the doctor since 1700s. However, placebo effect brings out various of deteriorating problem to the ethics and society. I am convinced that placebo effect really causes ethical issues but as the same time it improves the medical operation system.

I learned about the placebo effect and how it is often used in studies to better advance medicine and even the power it has on the mind. For example, I was watching a show called “My wife and kids” a few years ago and there was an episode where Junior’s father made him believe that his baby had magical powers, and that somehow holding the baby would make him smart. At the end of the episode his father told him that he had the knowledge all along. I liken Junior’s father to someone who’s performing a study, because at the end they disclose which participants got the real medicine and which got the inactive pill. Prior, to reading this chapter when I thought of Placebos I thought of birth control pills, and how the last week the user is given inactive pills to regulate their period. In that case though it’s not really a placebo effect, its more so a reminder for the user to know when to begin their new pack of

The placebo effect is often thought of as an act of fooling the mind into perceiving a benefit that has no physical basis. This depiction of the mind as a naïve and foolish organ may be incomplete and ill-representative of the mind's abilities. Indeed, the mind may orchestrate a physical response in the body based on its