Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Wonders of Placebo

Placebo refers to a drug having no active ingredient for therapy and which is given to benefit the patient psychologically such as it can be a simple glass of water but the patient is told that this water contains medicine. It is related to positive thinking. Placebo is still a wonder for scientific community.

Data on placebos is holding such an attention that many physicians in America (one study estimates 50 percent) secretly give placebos to unsuspecting patients.

In a study it was found that amond 435 patients of headache reported by branded placebo users, 64% were reported as improved 1 hour after pill administration compared with only 45% of the 410 headaches reported as improved among the unbranded placebo users. So they found that branding of a drug even have more effect on the treatment of a particular disease.

It has been found that placebo works even better, if a doctor give this to a patient.

References:
Harvard Medical School (2010, December 23). Placebos work -- even without deception. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 5, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/12/101222173033.htm

Moerman, D. E.; Jonas, W. B.; Deconstructing the Placebo Effect and Finding the Meaning Response. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2002, Vol. 136, No. 6. Pages 471-476.

No comments: