Placebo

around the world in many different countries. This can be for illnesses such as cancer or influenza. There are other medical treatments, too. A placebo is a medical treatment that is ineffective. It is ineffective because the treatment that they’re given is completely false. Those personnel that prescribe drugs (doctors, psychiatrists, etc.) give placebo medical treatments to those whose

Placebos are used as a form of treatment for patients; placebos offer no medication but seem to relieve patents of the pain and symptoms they have (Seymour, 2011). Medication has down sides, such as creating drug dependencies and increased tolerance for the drug resulting in a decrease in the amount of success that drug has to treat the pain. Placebos offer a medicine-free treatment to help patients deal with pain. Many studies have been done to examine the difference between medicine and placebos

The history of the placebo The placebo, though unknown at the time, has been a fundamental part of medicine since antiquity. Simply put by Shapiro and Shapiro (who are considered influential writers in placebo research), “the history of the placebo is the history of medical practice itself, until modern times”. (Shapiro & Shapiro, 1997) In their book, ‘The Powerful Placebo: From Ancient Priest to Modern Physician’, there is an extensive list of ancient medicine medicaments and procedures all of

mysterious ways, and the placebo effect acts is a prime example of exactly that. The concept of this phenomenon is known to confuse the average person, but it should not. Nevertheless, those unaware of it are still affected on a regular basis. In fact, every time a pill is taken, half of its power comes from just thinking and expecting it to work. All humans are gullible, each to a certain extent. Even the most clever individuals would succomb to the sheer power of placebos in, for example, a life-or-death

use of placebos in research is a controversial topic. Critics argue that the use of placebos is unethical due to the possibility of patients not receiving the highest known method of care or perhaps any treatment at all (Temple & Ellenberg, 2000). This is unfortunate, as placebos play a vital role in determining the efficacy of new drugs as well as in the treatment of many disorders (Stang et al., 2005). By discussing the theories behind how placebos work and demonstrating that placebos can be implemented

Placebo-controlled trials have ethical issues inherent to their design. The central point is having a control group that is ethically problematic for two reasons: The placebo group’s therapy is withheld in order to reduce bias and eliminate the chance of false improvements due to the placebo effect (up to 30% of placebo reactors). The complexity of this aspect depends on the availability of standard treatments, severity and prognosis for the disease, length of the planned study and the study design

ethical for clinicians to prescribe placebos as medication in clinical practice. Through defining placebo and placebo effect and determining whether placebos should be prescribed in clinical practice, I argue that in limited cases it is ethical for

tumors that result from unnecessary cells that keep dividing and multiplying. As chemotherapy only focuses on the biological treatment of cancer, the psychologically induced symptoms are left unattended. This paper would like to help by exposing the placebo phenomenon, such that hopefully in the future it could be used to achieve better living conditions for cancer patients. A

issues of prescribing medication. Rather, the purpose is to question whether it is ethical for clinicians to prescribe placebos in clinical practice. Through defining placebo and placebo effect and presenting a case where a placebo is prescribed, I argue that in limited cases it is ethical for clinicians to prescribe a placebo for a patient. Derived from Latin, the term placebo translates into “I shall please, future indicative of placere to please” (etymonline.com). Dating back to early 13th

common cold or not. In the Medical Journal of Australia it described a study that was a double-blind, randomized clinical trial with comparing the effects of different doses and formulations of vitamin C. Vitamin C doses at a daily dose was 0.03 g the placebo, and then 1 g, 3 g or “Bio-C with additives such as bioflavonoids 75mg, rutin 150 mg, hisperidin 150 mg, rose hip extract 750 mg, and acerola 150 mg that was taken at onset of a cold and the following two days. There were 400 healthy volunteers that