I don't know who needs to hear this today, but the placebo effect probably isn't real and mostly describes common statistical failings of scientific research
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To put it another way: Roses are red, Violets are green, The placebo effect is mostly just regression to the mean
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Lots of people asking, so here's the basic explanation. For subjective outcomes (i.e. pain) there's some evidence that placebos have a benefit. However, this is problematic because it could be due to reporting bias
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This means that people could be reporting that they think they've improved when, objectively, they haven't Which is exactly what we see when we look at objective outcomes
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So, for example, you might find that people with hypertension report feeling better after taking a placebo, but they don't actually have lower blood pressure
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Or people may report a reduction in pain, but they don't take fewer pain relief medications despite the placebo subjectively improving their response
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This is all summarized very well in a 2001 systematic review in NEJMhttps://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200105243442106 …
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Many of the claimed benefits to the placebo effect (blue pills work TWICE as well as red!) are based on surprisingly terrible research from decades ago If you want to know more, I strongly recommend listening to
@mikehall314 on Skeptics With A K, very comprehensive reviews4 replies 3 retweets 30 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @GidMK @mikehall314
So ... should we stop waisting resorces on placebo ... ? And instead of placebo controled, should the new standard become -Randomized “NOTHING” controled trial- with control group given nothing at all ...
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Quite the opposite IMO. Placebos are controls, and pretty good controls. But we need to caution against them being seen as a form of medicine. which is where the "powerful placebo" narrative leads.
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Depends on the situation of course. In many cases it's not ethical to give a placebo control, but with entirely novel treatments it's definitely the best option
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