Doctors Use Placebos

A new survey reveals that half of American doctors use placebos regularly. This data is similar to studies done in Britain, Denmark, Israel and New Zealand. Research has shown that placebos do work so it's not surprising that doctors turn to them in some situations. Using vitamins, headache pills and other products they're trying to activate the patient's own healing system.

If you ever hear your doctor say this is "a medicine not typically used for your condition but might benefit you" then you may be getting a placebo. The good news over the last few years is that the better the placebo, the better the results for patients.

One of the primary attacks on complementary and alternative medicine is that it's nothing more than a placebo ... and now we discover that even doctors use placebos to help patients! Is this talking out of both sides of your mouth?

The study is being published in BMJ, formerly The British Medical Journal.

The Price of Pain

It may all be in your head after all. In a study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine the price of a pill determined its effectiveness. In other words the same pill was reported to be more effective when it cost more.

This may be one of the reasons people often prefer high-priced new medications over generics.

The Placebo Effect needs to be studied so we can learn how to capitalize on it. Can you imagine if we spent just 5% on Placebo research than we do on prescription drugs? The pharmaceutical industry would probably disappear within a decade!