The placebo effect occurs when you get better because you think you’re being given a certain drug. It’s in your head, but it’s good!
Researchers recently used the placebo effect to successfully treat psoriasis in some patients with one quarter to one half of their usual dose of steroid medication. The early study results were published online in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
The research team picked psoriasis for their first human experiments since it’s chronic, involves the immune system and gets worse with stress. Psoriasis (red, scaly patches of dead skin caused by the immune system’s overproduction of skin cells) causes pain and disability for four million Americans.
“Our study provides evidence that the placebo effect can make possible the treatment of psoriasis with an amount of drug that should be too small to work,” said Robert Ader, Ph.D., M.D.(hc), distinguished university professor in the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. However, Ader added that the placebo effect can’t help unconscious patients, or replace substances that the body can’t produce. For example, the placebo effect, wouldn’t work for treatment of Type l diabetes.
The encouraging early results show that new placebo technique may improve treatment for chronic diseases involving the immune system or mental state, such as chronic pain, asthma and multiple sclerosis.
According to the authors at the University of Rochester Medical Center, potential benefits of the placebo effect treatment (mixing active drug and placebo) include:
- Maximizing drug benefits
- Reducing side effects
- Increasing the number of patients who take their medicine
- Extending the use of drugs limited by addiction risk or toxicity
- Reduction in healthcare costs since less active ingredient is used
How do you feel about doctors using the placebo effect?
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Post from: Blisstree