The Healing Power of Relationships
Dr. Bruno’s Original Post: Don't Scoff at The Placebo Effect. Relationships Are Healing.
Conventional medical wisdom has long held that placebo effects depend on patients’ belief they are getting pharmacologically active medication. A paper published today in the journal Pain is the first to demonstrate that patients who knowingly took a placebo in conjunction with traditional treatment for lower back pain saw more improvement than those given traditional treatment alone.
“These findings turn our understanding of the placebo effect on its head,” said joint senior author Ted Kaptchuk. “This new research demonstrates that the placebo effect is not necessarily elicited by patients’ conscious expectation that they are getting an active medicine, as long thought. Taking a pill in the context of a patient-clinician relationship – even if you know it’s a placebo – is a ritual that changes symptoms and probably activates regions of the brain that modulate symptoms.”
Study Finds Knowingly Taking Placebo Pills Eases Pain
‘Fake pills’ significantly reduced pain and disability in patients with chronic low back pain.
“Conventional medical wisdom has long held that placebo effects depend on patients’ belief they are getting pharmacologically active medication. A paper published today in the journal Pain is the first to demonstrate that patients who knowingly took a placebo in conjunction with traditional treatment for lower back pain saw more improvement than those given traditional treatment alone.”
“Taking placebo pills to relieve symptoms without a warm and empathic relationship with a health-care provider relationship probably would not work,” noted Carvalho.”
The Full Article by Beth Israel Lahey Health