Placebo breakthrough could mean the mind becomes the body’s healer
THE placebo effect works even when people know they are taking a dummy drug, scientists have found, in a breakthrough that could lead to cheap medicines which work by the power of suggestion alone. Traditionally it was thought that sugar pills were only effective when their clinical inefficacy was hidden from the patient.
However, a trial has shown that people still get the benefits even if they know it is a placebo, provided they are told they may experience an effect. Researchers at Harvard University and the University of Basel conducted an experiment on 160 volunteers who were asked to put their arm on a heating plate until they could no longer stand the pain.
All were then given placebos, but one third of the group were told they had received the painkiller lidocaine to help with the burn. A second group was warned the cream was only a placebo but also given a 15-minute talk explaining how dummy drugs can help. A third, control group was told that they would have a placebo, but without any additional commentary.
Those who knew about the placebo experienced similar pain relief to those who thought they had been administered with lidocaine. The control group were left in pain. “The previous assumption that placebos only work when they are administered by deception needs to be reconsidered,” said Dr Cosima Locher, of the University of Basel and the study’s lead author.