Placebos and the “Ritual of Medicine” May Prompt Brain Changes That Reduce Pain

Speaking with NPR, Ted Kaptchuk, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the director of placebo studies at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center, explained that receiving a placebo may work because it’s part of the “ritual of medicine.” 4

When you visit a physician, explain your health problem and receive a treatment (whether it’s an active one or not), you have a certain expectation that you’re going to get better – and this is often what happens. Kaptchuk continued:

“ We have expectations; we have previous experience; we have non-conscious awareness. And we're in a medical environment, and we're used to that environment producing beneficial results. The ritual of medicine activates particular areas in the brain that actually will reduce pain, or at least reduce the sensations that we have in relation to pain.”

Further, in one study Kaptchuk and colleagues conducted on patients with asthma, the same amount of relief was reported for both the active medication and the placebos, leading them to conclude: 5

“Placebo effects can be clinically meaningful and can rival the effects of active medication in patients with asthma.”