The concept of placebo Edit

The placebo effect is the term applied by medical science to the therapeutical and healing effects of inert medicines and/or ritualistic or faith healing manipulations. [1] [2]. When referring to medicines, placebo is a preparation which is pharmacologically inert but which may have a therapeutical effect based solely on the power of suggestion. It may be administered in any of the ways in which pharmaceutical products are administered. [3] An active placebo is a placebo that mimics the side effects of the drug under investigation but which lacks the therapeutic effect. They are important in drug trials where the tested drug produces sidef effects that could act as clues to participants as to whether they were in the control or experimental group.

Sometimes known as non-specific effects or subject-expectancy effects. a so-called placebo effect occurs when a patient's symptoms are altered in some way (i. e. alleviated or exacerbated) by an otherwise inert treatment, due to the individual expecting or believing that it will work. Some people consider this to be a remarkable aspect of human physiology; others consider it to be an illusion arising from the way medical experiments are conducted.

The placebo effect occurs when a patient takes an inert substance (a "sugar pill") in conjunction with the suggestion from an authority figure that the pill will aid in healing and the patient’s condition improves. This effect has been known for years.

The word "placebo" has been used in many somewhat varying meanings; see below.