

The placebo effect is getting stronger over time - cwan
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124367058&ft=1&f=1003

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tokenadult
Surely the correct fact is not the fact suggested by the headline.

<http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=4304>

"Let’s break this down a bit. First, they found that when you look at any
objective or clinically important outcome--the kinds of things that would
indicate a real biological effect--there is no discernible placebo effect.
There is no mind-over-matter self healing that can be attributed to the
placebo effect.

"What the authors found is also most compatible with the hypothesis that
placebo effects, as measured in clinical trials, are mostly due to bias.
Specifically, significant placebo effects were found only for subjectively
reported symptoms. Further, the size of this effect varied widely among
trials."

