I’m awed by the power of placebos

THE NHS attracted criticism last week when it emerged that it is still spending more than £55,000 a year on homeopathic remedies, despite doctors being told to stop prescribing them.

Within the medical and scientific community, homeopathy — where ailments are treated with minute doses of natural substances — is largely discredited. Yet I think it was a mistake to ban it in the NHS.

Every GP surgery has what are rather cruelly termed ‘heartsink’ patients — people who keep coming in with multiple, nondescript complaints, who never really get better and who irritate their doctors.

Yet it is precisely these patients who so often benefit from homeopathy. Their physical complaints are often manifestations of psychological distress, and sitting with a homeopath, having their problems listened to patiently and being seen holistically, is often what helps them. Now they have nothing.

Homeopathy’s benefits are dismissed by scientists as being down to the placebo effect. Yet the placebo effect works for about 30 per cent of people. So if it helps nearly one in three people, that isn’t bad.

I’m actually in awe of the placebo effect. The fact that we can get better simply because we believe we will is, to me, testament to the astonishing power of the mind.

Those who use homeopathy might believe it’s working in a different way to what the scientific community says, but does that matter? It seems a shame to discount the benefit that some people get from it.