In some cases, placebos can exert an influence powerful enough to mimic the effects of real medical treatments.
In this phenomenon, some people experience a benefit after the administration of an inactive lookalike substance or treatment.
In most cases, the person does not know that the treatment they’re receiving is actually a placebo.
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Instead, they believe they’ve received the real treatment.
The placebo effect is much more than justpositive thinking, however.
When this occurs, many people have no idea they are responding to what is essentially a sugar pill.
Here’s why the placebo effect is important, how it happens, and why it works.
Placebo vs.
Various factors might contribute to this phenomenon.
Hormonal Response
One possible explanation is that taking the placebo triggers a release of endorphins.
After people received naloxone, placebo pain relief was reduced.
In some cases, a placebo can be paired with an actual treatment until it evokes the desired effect.
A prescribing physician’s enthusiasm for treatment can even impact how a patient responds.
Genetics
Genes may also influence how people respond to placebo treatments.
Some people are genetically predisposed to respond more to placebos.
People with the high-dopamine version of this gene also tend to have higher levels of pain perception and reward-seeking.
For example, a patient might report having headaches, nausea, or dizziness in response to a placebo.
The purpose of doing this is to determine the effectiveness of the new treatment.
The impact of this placebo treatment is then compared to the results of theexperimental group.
These effects point to the brain’s role in health and well-being.
If researchers expect a certain result, they may unknowingly give clues to participants about how they should behave.
This can affect the results of the study.
To minimize this, researchers sometimes conduct what is known as adouble-blind study.
One of the most studied and strongest placebo effects is in the reduction of pain.
After taking the drug, she finds that her headache quickly dissipates, and she feels much better.
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