What is the placebo effect? Well, simply put, it’s when a patient reacts (either positively or negatively) to a medical treatment, even though the treatment may be fake. Researchers use placebos during studies to help them understand what effect a new drug or some other treatment might have on a particular condition. There are some conditions in which a placebo can produce results even when people know they are taking a placebo. Studies show that placebos can help with depression, pain, sleep disorders, and irritable bowel syndrome. For example, in one study involving asthma, people using a placebo inhaler did no better on breathing tests than sitting and doing nothing. But when researchers asked for people's perception of how they felt, the placebo inhaler was reported as being as effective as medicine in providing relief.
You might be wondering how this works. One of the most common theories is that the placebo effect is due to a person's expectations. If a person expects a pill to do something, then it's possible that the body's own chemistry can cause effects similar to what a medication might have caused. Experts also say that there is a relationship between how strongly a person expects to have results and whether or not results occur. The stronger the feeling, the more likely it is that a person will experience positive effects. However, the fact that the placebo effect is tied to expectations doesn't make it imaginary or fake. There are actual physical changes that occur with the placebo effect.
While it has most commonly been used when researchers study various cost effective options in place of new drug treatments, healthcare workers have started debating the ethics of prescribing placebos to patients. According to a paper by Tiburt et al, which was a survey of 1,200 internists and rheumatologists, among the 57% that responded, about half reported prescribing placebo treatments on a regular basis.
When analyzing the ethics of placebos, homeopathy is a frequent topic. Homeopathy is the ultimate placebo in routine use — most remedies contain only sugar and water, lacking a single molecule of any potentially medicinal ingredient. It can contain ingredients derived from plants, healthy or diseased animal or human sources, minerals, and chemicals. So it’s implausible, the remedies contain no medicinal ingredients, and, not surprisingly, it works no better than a placebo. Yet it is popular, even among some physicians and scientists.
However, there is one merit for both researchers and patients. Placebos are cost effective. If the alternative to antibiotics for a cold is homeopathy for a cold, then homeopathy is probably a better therapeutic choice, because “no treatment” is the preferred treatment. There are many medical conditions for which we have few effective medical therapies, and in some cases the impetus to prescribe a placebo may be simply to obtain the psychological (placebo) effects associated with their use.
Ultimately, the treatment and autonomy of the patient is the most crucial part of healthcare. If the patient chooses to take homeopathy, so be it. Just to be clear, it is not an alternative to traditional healthcare. Thus, it is highly unethical to prescribe homeopathic medicine to a patient without their knowledge.
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Perfect article.