The placebo effect and health : combining science and compassionate care

Summary: Reviews the history of the placebo effect--the positive effects of the doctor's presence and personality lus the patient's belief in the efficacy of the treatment--and the evidence of its benefits to health. He looks at both the planned use of placebos in blind clinical trials and the unplanned placebo effects arising out of the doctor/patient relationship, the passage of time, and the perceptions of the patient. He emphasizes that placebos in themselves have no intrinsic benefit; what matters is how the treatment is provided and under what circumstances.

Record details

ISBN: 1591022754
ISBN: 9781591022756
Physical Description: print
350 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
Publisher: Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2005.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-332) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

What is a placebo? -- History of placebos -- Placebo research: some facts and myths -- The placebo effect -- Elements of the placebo effect -- The nocebo effect -- Randomized clinical trials -- Evidence-based medicine -- Can surgery be a placebo? -- Placebo effects and psychotherapy -- Complimentary and alternative medicine -- The doctor as placebo -- The placebo responder -- The ethics of using placebos -- Strangers in the consulting room -- The burden of proof -- Health care systems and the placebo effect -- Physicians heal yourselves.