Anti-bilious bitters and other early placebos
Originally, a placebo was a substance that a well-meaning doctor would give to a patient, telling him that it was a powerful drug (e. g. a painkiller ), when in fact it was nothing more than a sugar pill. Thus, Hooper's medical dictionary of 1811 says placebo is "an epithet given to any medicine adapted more to please than benefit the patient." The subsequent reduction of the patient's symptoms was attributed to the patient's belief in the drug.
Placebos are inactive; however a patient may experience either a positive or negative clinical effect while taking one. When a placebo is administered to mimic a previously administered drug, it may also incur the same side effects as the prior authentic drug. Most of these effects are thought to be psychological in nature or due to other unrelated factors. Not all placebos are equally effective. A placebo that involves ingestion, injection, or incision is often more powerful than a non-invasive technique. Placebos administered by authority figures such as general practitioners and other experts may also be more powerful than when this psychological authority effect is absent.
An ineffectual treatment which results in a worsening of symptoms because of the patient's belief, is by analogy called a nocebo (Latin for "I will harm").
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