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The Placebo Effect and Health

by W. Grant Thompson

Reviews the history of the placebo effect--the positive effects of the doctor's presence and personality lus the patient's belief in the efficacy of the treatment--and the evidence of its benefits to health. He looks at both the planned use of placebos in blind clinical trials and the unplanned placebo effects arising out of the doctor/patient relationship, the passage of time, and the perceptions of the patient. He emphasizes that placebos in themselves have no intrinsic benefit; what matters is how the treatment is provided and under what circumstances.