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Article: Pondering the Placebo Effect: Why do sham treatments work? And what do they tell us about the nature of self-healing?
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- December 2, 2002
- Author:
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Byline: drs. Ted Kaptchuk, David Eisenberg and Anthony Komaroff
Whether you regard it as an annoyance or a miracle, you have to marvel at the power of suggestion. When doctors test a new medical treatment, they conclude that it works only when patients who receive it fare significantly better than those given a fake treatment, or placebo. That's because many people feel better no matter which one they receive. Skeptics often dismiss responses to complementary and alternative therapies as "mere" placebo effects. And until recently, experts have paid the placebo effect only grudging respect, some insisting that people who experience it must have simply misperceived ...