It is known that placebos have helped numerous patients. As the physician prescribes them, the patient believes the pills (or other types of medicine) contain real functional ingredients. This belief, in turn, leads to positive thinking, and can, in fact, alleviate the condition for which one is seeking help.

Some physicians, however, feel a little uncomfortable with the ethical problems that arise when they’re willingly deceiving their patients.

What If You Tell the Patients?

This inspired American researcher from Harvard Medical School to test what happens when the physician does inform the patient. The provided forty individuals that suffered from irritable bowel syndrome with a placebo, and gave forty others, who were suffering from the same condition, no treatment whatsoever.

The placebo group had to take two sugar pills a day for three weeks. On top of this, they were informed that the pills they were taking contained only sugar and not a single effective ingredient. Furthermore, the physicians told them that they didn’t even had to believe in the effect of placebos, all they had to do was to follow the pill schedule they were given.

Unexpected Results

After three weeks, the results were remarkable. Of the control group, that didn’t receive any sugar pills or other treatment, 35% reported feeling better. Of the group that had to take the sugar pills, knowing that it were only ineffective sugar pill placebos, 59% reported feeling better.

These results were completely unexpected, since this can not be attributed to the ‘placebo-effect’, as both group were aware that they were not given any real treatment. So, there seems to be more happening than just ‘positive thinking’. The researchers are now planning more investigations with larger groups of patients, in the hope of identifying the factors that cause this unexpected result.

However, before starting to take sugar pills, it might be better to await the results of these follow-up investigations. It is important that this finding is corroborated by other studies before it can be claimed that there is more to placebos than the ‘placebo effect’.

References

Kaptchuk, T.J.; Kelley, J.M.; Conboy, L.A.; Davis, R.B.; Kerr, C.E.; Jacobson, E.E.; Kirsch, I.; Schyner, R.N.; Nam, B.H.; Nguyen, L.T.; Park, M.; Rivers, A.L.; McManus, C.; Kokkotou, E.; Drossman, D.A.; Goldman, P. & Lembo, A.J. (2008). Components of placebo effect: randomized controlled trial in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. BMJ. 336(999), doi: 10.1136/bmj.39524.439618.25
Kaptchuk, T.J.; Friedlander, E.; Kelley, J.M.; Sanchez, M.N.; Kokkotou, E.; Singer, J.P.; Kowalczykowski, M.; Miller, F.G.; Kirsch, I. & Lembo, A.J. (2010). Placebos without Deception: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. PLoS One. 5(2), e15591.