Benefits of dummy run

PATIENTS who take a placebo still feel the effect of the real medicine even if they know they have taken a dummy.

Swiss and US researchers tested 160 people who put their arm on a hotplate until they found it too painful. All were then given a placebo cream. Some were told it was a painkiller, a second group knew they had taken a dummy and were given a talk about the benefits of placebos, the rest were just told it was a placebo.

The first and, crucially, the second group said the cream helped. But the last group said the pain had got worse.