The placebo effect is real apparently even when you know it's a placebo, and, alternately, the possibility exists that cultural expectations of whether a drug works may have an effect on how well the drug works:

There are various possible interpretations of this finding: it's possible, of course, that it was a function of changing research protocols. But one possibility is that the older drug became less effective after new ones were brought in, because of deteriorating medical belief in it.

This entry was published on March 05, 2008 at 03:04 pm by Deron Bauman.

Tags for this entry:  placeboeffect  drugs  culture 

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