how does the placebo effect work?

@tingyuyan12 Said

a sugar pill fights off cancer. how does that work? i dont get it. is it some kind of magical thing our body does?

@tingyuyan12 Said

a sugar pill fights off cancer. how does that work? i dont get it. is it some kind of magical thing our body does?

@Delta62 Said

a placebo makes people think, key word there think, that they are better. I believe it is used in cases where the person does not really have cancer but they believe that they do and are showing symptoms but tests prove other wise

@Eastender Said

Soz but that's plain wrong.

@Delta62 Said

actually its plain right


A placebo is a sham or simulated medical intervention that can produce a placebo effect. In medical research, placebos depend on the use of controlled and measured deception. Common placebos are inert tablets, sham surgery,[2] and other procedures based on false information.[1] In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition; and this belief may produce a subjective perception of a therapeutic effect, causing the patient to feel their condition has improved. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo

@Eastender Said

I already know all about this. The error in this statement is the idea that the perception of improvement is 'subjective'. You need to read up more about it.

@Delta62 Said

so if you have terminal cancer with no cure and the doctor gave you some medicine and said this will make you better and didnt tell you it was a placebo you wouldnt think you where getting better?

@Eastender Said

The point is placebo can produce actual physiological change.

@Delta62 Said

which was in my first post