History Main / PlaceboEffect

* On ''TheBigBangTheory,'' Raj is unable to talk to women unless he's drunk. In "The Terminator Decoupling," the guys are on a train when they discover that SummerGlau is in the same car, and they all try to hit on her. Raj drinks copious amounts of beer before going over to talk with her, and she actually seems to like him. Then Howard walks over and informs him that it was non-alcoholic beer. He clams up and walks away without another word.

The [[OppositeTropes opposite]] is the ''nocebo effect'', in which someone believes something is hurting them or making them sick, when it's really not. This could even kill them.

* Pretty much ''all'' pseudoscientific "treatments" depend on this. They are mostly (not entirely, but mostly) directed toward the relief of (chronic) pain, which is one of the most incredibly subjective things on the planet to attempt to measure.d

* Homeopathy fools many people due to the placebo effect, despite the fact that it would have to utterly violate some of the most basic laws of physics and chemistry in order to work.

* One time on ''{{MASH}}'' they run out of morphine so they give the patients sugar pils telling them it's a strong painkiller. It works.

* TheBirdcage: Armand's "Pirin tablets" -- he seems to think they're some kind of powerful anti-anxiety medication; they are in fact '''As'''pirin with two letters scraped off.

Adding some examples would be VERY nice.

A more realistic version of ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve.

The [[OppositeTropes opposite]] is the ''nocebo effect'', in which someone believes something is hurting them or making them sick, when it's really not.

The Placebo effect is a process in which someone thinks that something is healing them, even though it does not have such an effect when the patient is not told what it does, and the belief that they are being healed causes their physical condition to improve (usually just a reduction of the severity of symptoms.) This has been used by doctors when a patient is suffering from an easily treatable illness, and is even used to the degree of hosting fake surgeries with no ill effect. The most common use is in drug trials, in which a control group is given a placebo, to compare the effects in case the drug actually is only effective due to the placebo effect, or is even worse.
Although not fully understood, certain effects (such as those of a placebo said to contain caffeine) are known to be caused by certain chemicals in the brain (dopamine released in the thalamus for a placebo said to contain caffeine.)

Although not fully understood, certain effects (such as those of a placebo said to contain caffeine) are known to be caused by certain chemicals in the brain (dopamine released in the thalamus.)

The Placebo effect is a process in which someone thinks that something is healing them, even though it does not have such an effect (when the patient is not told what it does), and the belief that they are being healed causes their physical condition to improve (usually just a reduction of the severity of symptoms.) This has been used by doctors when a patient is suffering from an easily treatable illness, and is even used to the degree of hosting fake surgeries with no ill effect. The most common use is in drug trials, in which a control group is given a placebo, to compare the effects in case the drug actually is only effective due to the placebo effect, or is even worse.

The Placebo effect is a scientifically unexplained occurance. Essentially, if the mind thinks it isn't suffering a certain injury or minor sickness, the person can carry on as if they didn't have it in the first place, and sometimes the problem just vanishes. This has been used by doctors when a patient is suffering from an easily treatable illness, and is even used to the degree of hosting fake surguries with no ill effect. A more realistic version of ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve.

[[strike:''Mind over matter.'']]

[[strike:The Placebo effect is a scientifically unexplained occurance. Essentially, if the mind thinks it isn't suffering a certain injury or minor sickness, the person can carry on as if they didn't have it in the first place, and sometimes the problem just vanishes. This has been used by doctors when a patient is suffering from an easily treatable illness, and is even used to the degree of hosting fake surguries with no ill effect. A more realistic version of ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve.]]

A highly misunderstood real-world phenomenon. A '''statistical''' phenomenon, not a magical phenomenon. It is best explained to laypeople by first explaining what would happen with no concept of the placebo effect.

Suppose we have a medical Problem X and you invent Medicine Z. You get some people with Problem X and give them Medicine Z. Some of them get better. Unfortunately, because the human body is such a complex system, you can't be certain that Medicine Z actually did them any good, or if it was coincidence -- maybe some of the patients had really good immune systems that just took time to kick in, maybe being part of a study made them more health-conscious and they started leading healthier lives. It wouldn't be scientific to conclude that Medicine Z had any effect whatsoever.

So, to test whether Medicine Z actually works, we split the people with Problem X into two groups, and only give Medicine Z to one group. Now, just like above, people from both groups will get better, just coincidentally, for reasons unrelated to Medicine Z. However, if the group that was given Medicine Z gets much better, or better much more quickly or to a much fuller extent than those in the group ''without'' the medicine, we can say that Medicine Z probably does have some effect. Again, probably -- science isn't a thing of absolutes. At the least, we consider it "proven enough" to allow the drug to be marketed and claim to have an effect.

That tendency for a group of sick people being observed to have some members get better for undocumentable reasons is called the Placebo Effect. It's a purely statistical phenomenon; since we can't monitor absolutely every single last of the millions of factors that affect a human being, a given group of sick people will have ''some'' of its members get better, just because.

It has absolutely nothing to do with mind over matter. Not only do placebos not work "because you believe they'll work," '''they don't actually ''work'' at all'''; someone taking a placebo who gets better gets better for unrelated, coincidental reasons (such as the afforementioned natural bodily processes or sudden shift in health behavior that the patient doesn't report to the doctor or study conductor).

It has absolutely nothing to do with mind over matter. Not only do placebos not work "because you believe they'll work," '''they don't actually ''work'' at all'''; someone taking a placebo who gets better gets better for unrelated, coincidental reasons (such as the afforementioned natural bodily processes or sudden shift in health behavior that the patient doesn't report to the doctor or study conductor).

''Mind over matter.''

The Placebo effect is a scientifically unexplained occurance. Essentially, if the mind thinks it isn't suffering a certain injury or minor sickness, the person can carry on as if they didn't have it in the first place, and sometimes the problem just vanishes. This has been used by doctors when a patient is suffering from an easily treatable illness, and is even used to the degree of hosting fake surguries with no ill effect. A more realistic version of ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve.