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[large]Placebos - [Edited by Shades][/large]




A placebo is a sham medical intervention intended to lead the recipient to believe that it may improve his/her condition. In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert sugar pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition; and this belief does indeed sometimes cause the patient's condition to improve. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect.

Placebo - Something that has no effect but still works because you believe it will.

The Placebo Effect can also be used to effect dreaming.


Placebos can have positive and negative effects



Negative Placebo: Saying your name in a dream will make you wake up.



Positive placebo: Going to sleep with one eye covered will make you have dreams about flying.



Saying your name in a dream does not make you wake up. It will only do that if you believe it will.

Going to sleep with one eye covered will do nothing unless you believe it will.

That is the essence of placebos. If you believe it will happen, it will.


To have a placebo work you need to expect and believe 100% that it will happen. If you have any doubt in your mind, it will not work.


[large]History[/large]


The word placebo, Latin for "I shall please", dates back to a Latin translation of the Bible by Jerome. It was first used in a medicinal context in the 18th century. In 1785 it was defined as a "commonplace method or medicine" and in 1811 it was defined as "any medicine adapted more to please than to benefit the patient", sometimes with a derogative implication but not with the implication of no effect. Placebos were widespread in medicine until the 20th century, and they were sometimes endorsed as necessary deceptions. In 1903 Richard Cabot said that he was brought up to use placebos, but he ultimately concluded by saying that "I have not yet found any case in which a lie does not do more harm than good". In 1961 Henry Beecher found that patients of surgeons he categorized as enthusiasts relieved their patients' chest pain and heart problems more than sceptic surgeons. In 1961 Walter Kennedy introduced the word nocebo.