BMJ  2005;330:45 (1 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7481.45-a

Letter

Placebos in medicine

Medical paradoxes need disentangling

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—As Spiegel's editorial highlights,¹ paradoxes around the placebo effect can be overcome by distinguishing between a dummy pill and the effects of thoughts, feelings, and human relationships.²

Placebos may seem like a less toxic solution than pharmacological treatments for functional or chronic conditions but this carries side effects—disrupt trust, and outcome is disturbed. Doctors in Israel give placebo treatments without informing their patients, at trial closure investigators often don't tell people if they got placebo,³ and patients often turn to complementary medicine without informing their doctors.

The issue should not be about prescribing placebos but rather about the need to increase our general knowledge around healing mechanisms,⁴ to harness directly what placebo harnesses indirectly, in an ethical and practical manner, encouraging a sense of trust and partnership between the public and healthcare specialists.

Placebo effect research presents evidence of the extent to which individuals possess natural self healing . . . [Full text of this article]

University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA DiBlasi@ocim.ucsf.edu

Centre for Integrative Care, Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital, Glasgow

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Placebos in practice

David Spiegel
BMJ 2004 329: 927-928. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Informing participants of allocation to placebo at trial closure: postal survey

Zelda Di Blasi, Ted J Kaptchuk, John Weinman, and Jos Kleijnen
BMJ 2002 325: 1329. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Enhancing human healing

David Reilly
BMJ 2001 322: 120-121. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Online poll

Find out more >>