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Article: Placebo effect no myth, some scientists and doctors contend.(The Dallas Morning News)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- September 24, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A study suggesting that the placebo effect is the Loch Ness monster of medicine is making waves in the medical community.
Most doctors still believe that some patients benefit from receiving a placebo _ a fake treatment such as a sugar pill. But the new study, published in May in The New England Journal of Medicine, found little statistical evidence that the placebo effect is anything more than a myth.
The research has some doctors and scientists questioning the power of the placebo. "My feeling now is that the evidence leans very much against any kind of useful placebo effect, with the possible exception of pain," says Dr. John Bailar, an emeritus ...