
The Placebo Effect - ksvs
http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/09-05-20#feature
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tokenadult
"So far the evidence for objective placebo effects is weak. Another hypothesis
is that the placebo effect is only subjective, but that these subjective
effects can indirectly lead to objectively measurable effects. For example, if
you are in pain and the placebo effect decreases your perception of that pain,
you might expect your pulse and blood pressure to drop. If you are asthmatic
and are wheezing, any psychological factor that reduces your anxiety level or
helps you relax might indirectly ease your breathing symptoms and even allow
your constricted bronchi to dilate. In this view, the placebo effect doesn’t
really cause objective effects, it allows you to have a different experience
of your symptoms and it is that different experience that indirectly affects
your physiology. Semantic quibbling, perhaps."

An interesting article by a medical doctor about various lines of research on
placebo effects. The comments to the submitted article on the original site
are interesting too.

