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Originally posted by KATSUO
I was 90% sure it is against the law to hand out placebos without it being a study...
Placebos were defined in the study as treatments whose benefits derived from patients' beliefs they would work, not from the actual drug itself. They included painkillers, vitamins, antibiotics, sedatives and sugar pills.
Other situations where placebos were used included doctors giving vitamins to patients with difficult conditions, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, or giving antibiotics to patients with bronchitis to make them feel better.
Originally posted by mf_luder
I will be straight forward with you - I think half of what Fox news puts out is crap.
Originally posted by nowayreally
Never as a substitute- but possibly as a first time deal. Its like the old saying goes about the woman who took 'Prin' and though it was her new miracle drug. In fact, it was aspirin with the first two letters scratched off.
Im a M.A., and I cannot see the doc. let alone the patients being duped into taking some non- reactive med. A. It makes no sense because the patients will think he is a quack because their symptoms have not gone away. B. Because we are wine/dined/ you name it by pharm. reps. all the time. Why wouldn't he promote the med that they have been bragging and 'scientifically proven' to him over and over again?
There is no money in it for him and no money spent by patients, therefore, the point is mute.
I am also a psychology specialist and I do know the powerful strength of the mind. If many psychiatric patients were given a placebo in replace of something else and convinced of its miraculous effects- I think the patients would buy it. Simply because, with psychiatric patients, their seritonin increases simply by leaving their house and arriving at the doctors (because depression, etc. usually keeps them caged up), and this significant finding is enough to suggest that they would be a prime group of people to try the 'placebo' drug on. Yet, it's not practical.
Doctors love money! Why do you think they became doctors (Im generalizing of course), but there is no money for them in handing out a worthless pill.
Thats just my take. I've yet to see it happen and if I do, I will be the first one to report it to you, but my logic leads me to believe I'll never see the day. Unfortunately...