Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Why quack medicine seems to work...

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Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

The below rant was originally written as a response to the "uneccessary drugs" thread, but I got off topic. I think there are valid theraputic uses for the placebo effect, and there are valid reasons people sometimes require behavior-modifying medications.

With regard to placebos, the effect is real, even if the medecine isn't.

A link to a very good description of the placebo effect: http://skepdic.com/placebo.html .

In my case, cigarrettes may have been the source of a very strong placebo effect. When I smoked 'em, I felt a little more in control, a little more relaxed, etc. When I quit, I discovered that the nicotine patches supplied to me (the most powerful ones made) were having no discernable effect. I can't believe that smoke and carbon monoxide could be responsible for the sensations I got from smoking. If it wasn't the nicotine, then it must have been the expectation that when I lit one up, I'd feel a certain way.

Who knew?

--Baloo

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I prefer the company of those who aim low and overshoot the mark
to those who aim at heaven and shoot their fellow man in the head.
www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/

[This message was edited by Baloo on May 23, 1999.]

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Pavlov.

The difference being that you've successfully overcome said effect.

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"Don't call me at work again. Oh no, the boss still hates me. I'm just tired and I don't love you anymore, and there's a restaurant we should check out where the other nightmare people like to go...I mean nice people, baby wait, I didn't mean to say nightmare."
--
They Might Be Giants

Posted by Orion Syndicate (Member # 25) on :

It's the belief of 'faith healing'. You believe that you'll get better, so you do feel better. With me, when I'm ill, I may make an appointment at the doctors, but when I'm about to go, I nearly always start to feel better. It's the power of positive thinking for lack of putting it another way.

In ancient times, illness used to be seen as caused by evil spirits, so they used to cut holes in peoples heads to release the spirits. The people however didn't die, but got better because archaeological evidence shows that the wounds were regenerating, so the subject must have lived for a while after the operation.

Positive thinking - a remarkable medicine.

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The public is wonderfully tolerant - it forgives everything except Genius.