BMJ  2008;336:1087 (17 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.39577.509468.3A

Letters

Placebo effect

Human effect is important

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

The dismissal of non-specific effects of care as placebo effects (which are rated as sham, pretend, dishonest or false) does a huge disservice to patients and to doctors. The take home message in the article by Spiegel and Harrington is spot on: "We treat patients in a social and psychophysiological context that can either improve or, alas, worsen outcome. The meanings and expectations created by the interactions of doctors and patients matter physically, not just subjectively."¹

It’s time for doctors to reclaim the human aspects of their work. Caring for patients with due time and attention is not a luxury nor superfluous. It has a direct impact on outcomes. We cannot reduce medical practice to the physical components of our interventions because human beings are more than their physical components. We are thinking, feeling, meaning-seeking creatures. Unless we are treated as such we cannot expect the best outcomes from our . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital, Glasgow G12 0XQ

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Relevant Article

What is the placebo worth?

David Spiegel and Anne Harrington
BMJ 2008 336: 967-968. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]