Summary: The Placebo Effect

The issue I chose to write about is the use of placebos. A placebo, in lame man’s form is called a “fake pill”, or a “dummy pill”. Basically, it’s false medication. According to the American Cancer Society website, it defines placebo as “a substance or other kind of treatment that looks just like a regular treatment or medicine, but it’s not. Placebos are used by clinical professionals to make individuals believe that they’re getting help from a “dummy pill”. Many people believe that placebos work because the consumer doesn’t know that it’s fake. This kind of thing is abundantly used and tested to make people feel like they’re getting better and getting healthier. Let me tell you now, it’s all about the mindset of the individual. This “dummy …show more content…
The nocebo effect: According to the article, “What is a Placebo?” a nocebo effect is:
“the opposite of the placebo effect - a negative psychological effect of a treatment with no pharmacologic activity. This can occur when the placebo is administered and accompanied by the suggestion that the patients’ ailment will get worse. High nocebo effects can also interfere with interpretation of clinical trial results. Negative effects of drugs may be due to psychological nocebo effects and not necessarily due to the drug itself.” (Anderson). In the Article “What’s a Placebo?”, it says that in clinical practices, physicians prescribe placebo treatments to patients whether they know it’s fake or if they don’t know it’s fake. Also, the article says:
“Psychologically, the patient may be encouraged that they are receiving a treatment for their ailment that they believe will have beneficial effect, and in turn the placebo may actually provide some relief.”. It’s a temporary relief session though. The chemicals of the brained are fooled to believe that there is an effect happening causing people to be more open to the fact that the treatment isn’t fake and it’s actually beneficial.” (Erick, Schedlowski,