Thread: The Placebo Effect

Originally Posted by Howetzer

I think most of us are aware that a placebo affect can occur given the right circumstances.
I believe it can be a very good lucid aid, that is provided you don't know.

My friends sister had an ankle sprain from volley ball. She was prescribed pain medication for the pain.
Her brother asked why she had only used four of the fifteen pills after some time. She said they made her sick.
So he bluntly asked for them. As any good sister or person should do, she said no.
A few weeks later he was watching their house for them.
The pills looked similar to excedrin, but with a # on them. He proceeded to scratch off the number and replace them with excedrin.
Several weeks later we all went out to party. His brother-in- law claimed to have taken two of the pain killers. He acted every bit as if he had taken five.
Well there ya have it.
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That's like getting drunk. It's an excuse to let our inner selves take control for awhile.

Hahaha, Howie That's great! Did he eventually find out what he really took?

A strong minded person has to take more than the recommended dose of a real drug just to even get an effect. Weak minded people freak out no matter what you give them. So really it should be called the gullable dumbass effect, because it only applies to retards, which sadly is a pretty large portion of the population.

Originally Posted by Burns

Hahaha, Howie That's great! Did he eventually find out what he really took?
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No.
He is one of those guys that is ALWAYS right too! I sooo bad wanted to tel him. My friend did not want him to know he took them on top of deceiving him. I can understand. Seriously though he would be the type to take the pills and get them lab tested before he admitted he was dooped.

Originally Posted by Burns

A strong minded person has to take more than the recommended dose of a real drug just to even get an effect. Weak minded people freak out no matter what you give them. So really it should be called the gullable dumbass effect, because it only applies to retards, which sadly is a pretty large portion of the population.
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I have to disagree. This is true for people that know they are taking a substance. I know first hand. I can take more than the average with about anything. It is not because I am strong minded, believe me. It is chemistry and chemical make up.
With a placebo either one of those two groups have no idea that they are being deceived. Ones ability to foster there control over the mind is not even known.

I was once force-feed laxitive on a camp

nothing came of it

nothing

by bowls acted the way they usually do

could that be considered part of the P effect, as I didn't think the L would effect me anyway?

"I can take more than the average with about anything. It is not because I am strong minded, believe me. It is chemistry and chemical make up."

When I say strong minded I don't just mean a persons thought process, I mean their genetics and chemistry. I am speaking literally.

Not every person you meet can be fooled. Especially if the person voluntarily takes the drug, like in your story. Besides doctors don't give anything stronger than vicodin for a sprain. I have a 2006 physicians desk reference right here saying the strongest schedule II vicodin is 15mg of hydrocodone per pill, but the average strength vicodin given to sprain victims is 2.5 to 7.5 milligrams. Even if your brain managed to create the full effects of 5 pills of the 7.5 millgram vicodin, you should not be nearly intoxicated enough to be acting messed up, its not a potent drug and thats not a very high amount of it. A large portion of vicodins pain relieving effects comes from the acetaminophen, aka tylenol. So clearly this is just a case of the person being an idiot, placebo might be real but not in this incidince. I can imagine if someone walked up to you and quickly injected you with some harmless saline and ran off, and you had no idea what they just injected you with, then your brain would probably make you start feeling crazy no matter who you were, then you could call that an involuntary effect that applies to nearly everyone.

Please no one go out and try selling people excedrin because you think placebo is going to work!! You can count your life on it not working.

Originally Posted by imaginefication

A strong minded person has to take more than the recommended dose of a real drug just to even get an effect. Weak minded people freak out no matter what you give them. So really it should be called the gullable dumbass effect, because it only applies to retards, which sadly is a pretty large portion of the population.
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This is not true at all. It is well known that the mind affects the body. That is why placeboes work. It obviously isn't the (pill) itself, it is the belief in the supposed pill's effects.

When I say strong minded I don't just mean a persons thought process, I mean their genetics and chemistry. I am speaking literally. [/b]

Yet...

So really it should be called the gullable dumbass effect, because it only applies to retards, which sadly is a pretty large portion of the population.[/b]

So you are saying that "a pretty large portion of the population" are "gullible dumbasses" and "retards"...in a "genetics and chemistry" sort of way? You are clearly uneducated on this subject.

Not every person you meet can be fooled.[/b]

Every person can be and has been fooled in one way or another.

Etrash, you miss the point, the guy thought he took two pain killers that were prescribed to a young girl for a sprain!!?!?! Do you seriously think that is enough to intoxicate anyone, even if it were real?? If you believe that then you are just as retarded as the guy in this story. If it had been the wrong person, this story would end with the brother in law getting a beat down.

And yes I am saying that myself and a large portion of civilized population is genetically retarded to some extent. We are rapidly de-evolving because technology has nearly eliminated natural selection. Without modern technology 40-60% of births miscarriage. I realize if society reverted to only natural births already, I would very likely not exist, but the quality of life for those who do exist would be tremendous, so I think we should consider returning to natural births or using genetic engineering. If not each generation will keep having more and more genetic flaws. If a women is dedicated to taking the responsibility of bringing a life into this world, then the risks of a natural birth should be completely outweighed. But genetic engineering could make that unnecessary. If you don't get what I am saying then watch some jerry springer and I think you will understand.

I don't have time to argue, so i will end by saying if you really think every person that takes a pill they are told is real will be fooled, then please go and sell some fake drugs to real drug users, and when you get out of the hospital for your fractured skull, you can come back to this forum and try to tell me everyone can be fooled in these regards.

Originally Posted by imaginefication

Etrash, you miss the point, the guy thought he took two pain killers that were prescribed to a young girl for a sprain!!?!?! Do you seriously think that is enough to intoxicate anyone, even if it were real??[/b]

If the guy thought that that would be the effect, then yes it could potentially intoxicate him.

If you don't get what I am saying then watch some jerry springer and I think you will understand.[/b]

I don't watch TV.
Also I think that it is culture that dumbs humans down, but I don't believe that effect is passed on genetically.

I don't have time to argue, so i will end by saying if you really think every person that takes a pill they are told is real will be fooled, then please go and sell some fake drugs to real drug users, and when you get out of the hospital for your fractured skull, you can come back to this forum and try to tell me everyone can be fooled in these regards.[/b]

Have you heard that they have experimented with giving placeboes to prison inmates with drug addictions, with (some) success? I believe it was in the UK.

Also, I said "Every person can be and has been fooled in one way or another". Please note the "in one way or another". I know that not everybody will be fooled if given a placebo. In fact it is likely that the majority will not be fooled. But it doesn't mean that they cannot be fooled. They may not respond well to placebo pills, but they will respond to other stimuli.

Please learn about hypnosis if you want to understand how these things work. I recommend Monsters and Magical Sticks for starters.

I can imagine if someone walked up to you and quickly injected you with some harmless saline and ran off, and you had no idea what they just injected you with, then your brain would probably make you start feeling crazy no matter who you were, then you could call that an involuntary effect that applies to nearly everyone.[/b]

You are saying the same thing with a different scenario.

Involuntary effect. ?? OK. What ever you wish to call it. I don't see how you have separated the two.


You have to realize that there are different circumstances to take into account. There are always many variables. This same person may not have been fooled given another experience. But as Etrash said, "we all have been fooled someway or another."

Etrash, you miss the point, the guy thought he took two pain killers that were prescribed to a young girl for a sprain!!?!?! Do you seriously think that is enough to intoxicate anyone, even if it were real??[/b]

Yes it is.

Humans are still evolving... they are not "de-evolving as you say."
Humans are taller, smarter, more resistant to diseases.. you mention the Jerry Springer show. The effects that society has on a person has nothing to do with their "evolutionary level."

I also like your slightly hitler biased opinion about not using technology for childbirth, so that we can "weed out" these defective children and have a purer and stronger race. Sounds good!