Scientists Present First Genetic Evidence For Why Placebos Work

Scientists Present First Genetic Evidence For Why Placebos Work

www.sciencedaily.com

Placebos are a sham — usually mere sugar pills designed to represent "no treatment" in a clinical treatment study. The effectiveness of the actual medication is compared with the placebo to determine if the medication works.

And yet, for some people, the placebo works nearly as well as the medication.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The article looks at some very specific cases. And keep in mind this is just the first genetic evidence they have discovered.

The article goes on to say that there may be many different causal factors at work, as we all no nature is never as simple as having a single cause for anything.

Personally I think the fact that placebos work at all is a score for the power of the subjective over the objective.

Although what is interesting in this article is that it works better in some than others...

www.sciencedaily.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

For those who are thinking that the headline is true, its not (as usual)
They did not find the working mechanism of placebo, only that it works better in some people.

Leuchter noted that this is not the sole explanation for a response to a placebo, which is likely to be caused by many factors, both biological and psychosocial. "But the data suggests that individual differences in response to placebo are significantly influenced by individual genotypes," he said.

Most of the times (sadly) the headlines are just made up by the journalists to make people click on the links, and the stories either turn out to be ordinary or simply "views" and speculations of some random guy.

reply to post by rocksolidbrain


Yep... I'm still surprised this one didn't get more play than it did. I guess evidence that the Placebo effect manifests itself at all is only amazing to me.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Sounds to me like further attempts to push science into sustaining a purely materialist viewpoint by seeming to answer all the mysteries life presents us with.