-
Asked by danrumford to Cat, Daz, Holly, Johnson, Pamela on 16 Jun 2011.
-
Pamela Lithgow answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Hi Dan,
Mostly placebo effect is positive because people expect the medication they are taking to make them better so the psychological effects mean they feel better. However, it is possible to get negative placebo effects, people not only experience “treatment” effects from placebo they also get “side effects” like you might expect if you were taking proper drugs. Placebo is a very complicated area and people don’t really know how it works or why the effects exist!
I hope this helps
Pam 🙂
-
-
Cat O'Connor answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Hi Dan,
I really have to ask…….how do you keep asking such great questions? I think I speak from all of us when I say you are doing an amazing job!
I think Pam has really told you all you really need to know about the placebo effect without going into crazy detail
Do you know about the different types of drug trials that use placebos? It’s a really cool area to look into if you’re interested!
Cat
-
Holly Shelton answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Yeah I agree Pam gave a good answer! People might believe the drug they are taking is a toxin?? Some cancer drugs are so I guess if you believe what you are taking might hurt you to make you better you might feel worse (due to pschological reasons) when taking a placebo. Not sure if the answer really helps much! 🙂
Holly
Comments
danrumford commented on :
Thanks for your answer 🙂
Moderator - Sophia commented on :
Hi Dan, getting bad side effects (because you expect them) from something that actually shouldn’t affect you is called the ‘nocebo’ effect. Here’s a link to some more information http://www.skepdic.com/nocebo.html
I’ve often wondered though if something that SHOULD make you better won’t, if you don’t believe that it will – this would be a slightly different sort of opposite to the placebo effect. I don’t know if there is any research on it though.
Very good question!