Placebo Literature Review

In addition, the experimenter bias affected the result indeed. every professor wants his or her study be successful, and they want themselves to be famous. In this study, the professor knew who took the pill and who didn’t in the beginning of this experience, so it is unfair. When the students in the experimental group which the students who took the pill ask a question, the professor want to answer it as detailed as possible because he should make sure that the students in this group are doing well. On the other hand, when the control group which the students who didn’t get the pill ask a question, he could refuse to answer it or say the question is stupid. Moreover, placebo effect also has affected the result. As we know, human beings are bizarre. When

Because many of the treatments of alternative medicine do not adhere to the principles of conventional medicine, whether or not to allow practice of these techniques in the United States is a major concern of the medical community today. The Food and Drug Administration is the decision making body of issues such as this and more often than not, does not approve many of these practices. Due to the fact that holistic medicine sometimes contradicts the fundamentals of biomedicine, health care regulation boards such as the FDA find it difficult to accept many of these treatments. Because the Western world is so unfamiliar with these techniques it is only natural for medical community to often disprove these methods. However, as more and more doctors discover the limitations of

Placebos have been used in clinical trials since the eighteenth century but did not become a research topic until the late twentieth century (van Haselen, 2013). Most often when using placebos in clinical trials it is to determine whether or not the active agent has more effect on a patient than the placebo by providing each to the same number of recipients. The trials are almost always double blinded, this means that both person giving the drug and the person receiving it are unaware whether or not it is active so that good care and relationships must be present in the recipients at all times (Tavel, 2014). Ovosi, Ibrahim, & Bello-Ovosi (2017) declared “The choice between placebo and active controls in clinical trials affects the quality of the result as well as the ethical and scientific acceptability by both the public and regulatory bodies. It has, therefore, continued to generate discuss among researchers” (para. 3). This goes against the autonomy of a patient which is the right for a person to

They deceived them for 40 years by making them think they were receiving treatments for “bad blood” when in fact they were withholding treatment. However, in present day, researchers must comply with guidelines and undergo a review panel to be approved. Participants must be informed of the study and its risks as well as the right to decline participation at any given time. The subjects must also be competent and be able to understand what is happening in the experiment as well as its

Imagine going to the doctor and being given medication to heal your pain. Now how would you feel if after taking the medication and feeling better you came to find out you were given a placebo? This may sound upsetting to some, however, “ a recent survey of U.S. internists and rheumatologists found that some 50% regular prescribe placebos.” A placebo is defined as a false treatment without any significant chemical properties or active ingredient. The use of placebos as a primary form of treatment with any pathology is not happening anytime soon, but their positive impact and usefulness in the medical field is becoming hard to deny. In the article, “The Magic of the Placebo”, author David Bjerklie attempts to explain the growing change in

The article goes on to say that “some of the misleading reporting observed…was deliberate” (Gary, 2010). It is unethical to try and sway the consumer into using your product with false or misleading information. When someone is sick he or she wants the best care that his or her insurance can provide and he or she are not getting that with this misleading information. The author of the article seems to be concerned with this idea of unethical medical research. According to the author research has proven that misleading research is used often for financial gain. The author does not site one specific person or business, but points the finger at the healthcare and drug markets in general. The author does use one specific source for his research though. He found gaps in the marketing of Pleo-Sanum. He noticed that one of the statements in the article about the product stated that “The investigators reported in the Results section that active treatment produced a significant benefit, whereas placebo did not.” A normal person reading the article would not catch on to the fact that the product had been spun to make the product seem better. Consumers are not dumb, but have no choice but believe what is laid out in front of them. Consumers expect the people who are selling the products to be honest and ethical individuals but research has

The first article is entitled “of mice but not men: problems of randomized clinical trials,” is written by Samuel Hellman and Deborah S. Hellman discusses the issues of randomized medical testing and experiments on patients. The article describes the role of the personal physician and how the physician can take an ethical or unethical path of treating his/her patients. The relationship between the patient and physician is greatly emphasized because according to the article trust is very valuable in medicine especially when a patient’s life is at risk. A Kantian and a Utilitarian view of randomized clinical trials are debated but the authors clearly steers towards a Kantian point of view.

Impossible Cure: The Promise of Homeopathy provides an in-depth and exciting account of the history, philosophy, and experience of homeopathic medicine. At the core of Impossible Cure is the amazing story of how the author's son was cured of autism with homeopathy. It also includes dozens of other testimonials of homeopathic cure, for a variety of physical, mental, and emotional conditions. Impossible Cure will serve as an invaluable guide to anyone interested in learning more about this intriguing form of health care. It is used as a patient education book and textbook all over the world, and has won endorsements from leading experts in alternative health care, including: Larry Dossey, MD (executive editor, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, and author of Healing Words); Bernard Rimland, PhD (director, Autism Research Institute); Wayne Jonas, MD (director, Samueli Institute, and former director, Office of

At the beginning of the study, the subjects were not well informed about the whole purpose of the research; neither were they informed of the inherent dangers of the study. The experiment was

Now to finally address the experimental issues of this study that the experimenters need to address before their new drug can be put into production and distributed. The first experimental issue of this study was that it did not use random assignment. The participants were placed in either the treatment group or the placebo group by the researcher so they did not have the same chance of

There does seem to be some neurological explanation to the pain relief of a placebo. The placebo effect should be more accurately named the placebo “response”. Although containing no medicine the action of physically taking a pill coupled with the expectation it will make you better is enough to catalyse your brain's ‘endogenous health care system’. Opioids are medicines that alleviate pain and placebos mimic these by triggering a release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. This alleviates stress, insomnia, and regulates cortisol production, a glucocorticoid that shuts down the immune system in response to

The trial of this experiment would last approximately 13 weeks and would be controlled, randomized, and double-blinded. The participants were recruited from

However, numerous studies have reported a lack of difference between the control group and experimental groups within their experiments. For example, in an effort to alleviate pain from carpal tunnel syndrome, a double blind, random experiment was conducted with about thirty patients, which yielded no difference between the control group and the experimental group. However, both groups did report pain improvement (The Journal of family practice, 2002). This study can be used as an example of the power of the placebo effect in decreasing pain. However, as stated earlier conflicting studies to exist, such as the well know Baylor study in Houston. A double blind study of magnetic therapy which reported results that attested to the pain alleviating qualities of magnets. The Baylor study results are, however, contested by questions of researcher bias, the ever subjective nature of pain research, if the groups were truely selected randomly (Barrett,

The scientific community is much quicker to label this second type as quacks, whereas the scientific community has failed to gain a consensus on the legitimacy of the first type. Unfortunately, both are encompassed by the term alternative medicine. This paper will focus on the more controversial alternative medicines described in the first group.

These therapies have proved to be of much benefit in supporting the normal healing course of the body. Even though there are many modern alternative remedies, with different beliefs, all of them operate under some common principles. One of these principles is that the body has the capacity to heal naturally and maintain stability (Paquette, 2000). The other one is that adverse health conditions can occur as a result of factors emanating from mind, emotions and the body. Alternative medicine, according to Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, (2002), focuses on determining the chief cause of a particular condition, and dealing with the whole person rather that concentrating on symptoms. If a person pays close attention to his/her health he/she can contribute to his/her wellbeing. Alternative medicine holds firmly to the principle that one treatment cannot be used for all people even though they may be suffering from the same condition. Each and every person as per alternative medicine has distinct bodily, mind and spiritual make up (Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, 2002).