Yes! I did my internship at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center ("Big County") in 1974-75. In the ER, it was routine to give repeaters with no obvious source of pain (visits weekly, no other doctor) OBECALP BLACK. These were humongous (about 1" long x 0.5" diameter) shiny black capsules filled with powdered starch. We'd tell the patient, "These contain the strongest pain med that's legal." Worked more often than not in terms of relieving their pain in the E.R. Till next week...
In such instances, giving a placebo definitely seems better than an opiod, but in my opinion, it definitely isn't helping the patient and is likely hurting them by distracting them from the underlying emotional cause. At least when given repeatedly...
In the majority of those patients, the underlying cause was alcoholism and its myriad complications resulting from a store called Liquor Liquor being located across the street from the hospital.
The irony was not lost on us. The first thing those patients did after discharge was head to Liquor Liquor. It had a huge flashing colored neon sign — ALL CAPS.
