Oct 13, 2023 11:49 AM
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/placebo...revisited/
EXCERPTS: In a recent editorial for The New York Times, researcher Ted J. Kaptchuk, who directs placebo studies at Harvard, gives his summary of [...] placebo effects. While much of what he says is ... at least uncontroversial, in my opinion he shoehorns the facts into his preferred narrative – a popular narrative that can be counterproductive and feeds into unscientific medical treatments.
[...] He takes a while to give a definition of placebo effects ... “Placebo effects are health improvements initiated from the rituals, symbols and behaviors involved with healing.”
That is an inaccurate definition [...] Apparent improvements may not be real. ... Symptoms fluctuate, and people are more likely to seek treatment when symptoms are at their worst, which is statistically likely to be followed by spontaneous improvement. Give someone an inert placebo and they will improve.
The improvement was not “initiated” by the placebo in any way. It would have happened without any intervention. It is simply a statistical illusion of observation – but such effects are included in what we measure as placebo effects.
There are other illusory effects in there as well. [...] Kaptchuk is focusing on only a subset of placebo effects and treating it as if it is the entire phenomenon. But this fits his narrative, that placebo effects are something to be harnessed and are valuable in and of themselves... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: In a recent editorial for The New York Times, researcher Ted J. Kaptchuk, who directs placebo studies at Harvard, gives his summary of [...] placebo effects. While much of what he says is ... at least uncontroversial, in my opinion he shoehorns the facts into his preferred narrative – a popular narrative that can be counterproductive and feeds into unscientific medical treatments.
[...] He takes a while to give a definition of placebo effects ... “Placebo effects are health improvements initiated from the rituals, symbols and behaviors involved with healing.”
That is an inaccurate definition [...] Apparent improvements may not be real. ... Symptoms fluctuate, and people are more likely to seek treatment when symptoms are at their worst, which is statistically likely to be followed by spontaneous improvement. Give someone an inert placebo and they will improve.
The improvement was not “initiated” by the placebo in any way. It would have happened without any intervention. It is simply a statistical illusion of observation – but such effects are included in what we measure as placebo effects.
There are other illusory effects in there as well. [...] Kaptchuk is focusing on only a subset of placebo effects and treating it as if it is the entire phenomenon. But this fits his narrative, that placebo effects are something to be harnessed and are valuable in and of themselves... (MORE - missing details)