A fascinating new article in knowable magazine https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/mind/2017/rebranding-placebos
Indicates that a group of savvy scientists are looking at the potential for placebo as a front line therapy for a host of illnesses and conditions.
The article is rather long, but to summarize, placebo and its related effects are powerful. So powerful in fact that most medical therapies are only slightly more effective, while running the risk of serious side effects. Therefore the scientists pose the questions. Why not use placebo as a front line therapy, a first line of defense in most cases?
But for this to work, placebo would need a rebrand.
The problem with the placebo effect is that it stops working once a person knows that they are receiving the placebo.
So here is a thought. What if instead of using the word "placebo", we make it ok for doctors to write initial prescriptions for monosaccharide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosaccharide and Dihydrogen Monoxide DHMO therapy https://www.lockhaven.edu/~dsimanek/dhmo.htm and / or other fancy chemical names for the ingredients actually in these placebos. Then a simple updating of wikipedia pages showing their efficacy in treatment of various ailments along with their relative safety. In otherwords, since we are a society that places our faith in chemicals, why not just give the chemicals in the placebos their due and forget the word "placebo" all together?
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday February 28 2019, @07:49PM
I don't know about most people, but personally, if I knew there was a significant chance I was just being prescribed a placebo, I would have the craving to look it up online to see whether I was on a real medication or not. I wouldn't be okay with just shrugging and saying, "meh, doctors know best," especially considering how big of dicks big pharma is already.
How would you feel if you were being charged $400a pill (or whatever) for a placebo?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"