Big Pharma conspiracy: Placebos just as effective as real prescription drugs!

I just watched this on 60 minutes. Basically, this Harvard doctor who studies the placebo effect looked at a bunch of information about depression case studies where patients were given placebos and the results show that they are just as effective as the real thing! He even researches cases where people thought they were getting real knee surgery instead of a placebo surgery (where they sliced the person's knee open and immediately sewed it shut), and the people who didn't get the real knee surgery did just as good OR BETTER than those who got the real surgery.

Antidepressants are supposed to be the magic bullet for curing depression. But are they? I used to think so. As a clinical psychologist, I used to refer depressed clients to psychiatric colleagues to have them prescribed. But over the past decade, researchers have uncovered mounting evidence that they are not. It seems that we have been misled. Depression is not a brain disease, and chemicals don't cure it.

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Placebo drugs 60 minutes

Even traumatic knee pain. In this clinical trial some patients with osteoarthritis underwent knee surgery. While others had their knees merely opened and then sewn right back up. Kirsch: And here's what happened. In terms of walking and climbing, the people who got the placebo actually did better--

Given the fact of the huge increase in the cost of healthcare, could much of the healthcare being provided to people, not really be necessary, and it's being performed simply for the profit motive? I'd say so.

It's also troubling how many people are killed from prescription medication, especially if they might not need it.

100,000 Americans Die Each Year from Prescription Drugs, While Pharma Companies Get Rich

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This is EXACTLY why Ron Paul wants to shut the FDA down. The FDA is nothing but a bought and paid for arm of the pharmaceutical industry. They are the gate keepers who legally allow big pharma to scam the world into thinking they need all kinds of pills to feel good. Big pharma anti depression is a 10 billion dollar a year industry.

This is why Homeopathy "works".

I beleive the OPPOSITE of everything the FDA claims.

Bunch of bums having none of the interests of a healthy public in mind...

very interesting, i believe, and so i am.

reply to post by HangTheTraitors


don't do that, because then they will tell opposite lies and make you believe the truth that they want you to think is real.


consider ideas and have an open mind but don't understand it to be true unless you know.

I've believed this for a few years now. Your body has everything it needs to fix itself. It just comes down to believing it, your will goes a far way.

I just had a really messed up idea. What if Doctors use the placebo effect, then go screw around, after about another hour or so then they wake you. you would never know if they actually did the surgery....that's scary to think about.

Thankyou for bringing this topic to ATS - I've been reading about this effect for years - a very close family member is a GP and I know how effective the placebo effect can be.

This goes to prove in my view, that it is what we believe that decides what happens to our bodies but in order to focus the mind without being tricked - as in the Placebo Effect - to focus the mind enough in the knowledge that it works requires some training and meditation techniques.

Having said this - many people already know the power of the body to heal itself and apply it as a preventative measure on a daily basis along with healing techniques for disease that may already exist.

Depach Chopra PHD is the one to read for anyone wishing to delve further into this fascinating and effective healing technique. But be warned - it all comes down to belief - if you believe and not just tell yourself that 'oh I have decided to believe' you need to really believe from the heart - it works.

Just as many believe truly and faithfully in the things of this world - they believe because they have experienced or been educated/indoctrinated to believe a particular thing. If I see the sky is blue and school also tells me it's blue - ofcourse I will believe because I see it with my own eyes.

But it's not so easy with things you can't see with your own eyes - like wireless radio waves and frequencies - there was a time when people were very much afraid of these things - were very much afraid of picking up the telephone because they didn't understand it and how it worked. In the end - they believed and weren't afraid anymore because they experienced it for themselves.

The same goes for the belief in the power of the body to heal itself - until you've experienced it - you will doubt it and unfortunately this doubt is what prevents you from experiencing same - you either have faith or you don't and it takes more spiritual uplifting of your being in order to place your trust in this.

I do believe the people of the world are opening up to more spiritual/ancient/traditional ways and the more this happens the dominoe effect will come into play and we will finally be free from Mr. Pharmacutrical and his friends.

Read, study and apply, experiment and consider things that you would not normally consider or adopt - then you can speak of such thing.

Don't do the talk until you have done the walk - this is how you come to believe in anything.

S&F for your post Thank You - You can't put an old head on young shoulders but hey - we all get old.

Originally posted by SoymilkAlaska
very interesting, i believe, and so i am.

This says IT ALL!

reply to post by quedup


:3


*hugs*



edit:

every morning i wake up, and take some vitamins. i take a ginger pill, and say this will fix my back ache.

i take a vitamin E pill and say, this will fix my eyes because sometimes they feel "meh"

i take an acidophilus pill and hold it up, this one will make me happy.

i believe it. and it works.

im disappointed in myself because i haven't believed hard enough, i need to believe more, and i know that i can live as long as i want or need too.

Originally posted by DrakeDarc
I just had a really messed up idea. What if Doctors use the placebo effect, then go screw around, after about another hour or so then they wake you. you would never know if they actually did the surgery....that's scary to think about.

edit on 19-2-2012 by DrakeDarc because: Suck at grammer

Scary and stupid - No that is not the case.

Why would they waste the resources when so many people are in need.

Most Doctors do actually stand by their oath whether or not you believe that and become Doctors because they care for humanity. It's easy to knock them when you get a bad penny that gives them a bad name.

Why would they risk their lives by going to war torn areas of the world in order to help the dregs of humanity that governments have abandoned oh I could go on and on but hey think what you like because you will anyway.

I opologise, if I've interupted your train of thought and hope you never need a Doctor in an emergency.

reply to post by SoymilkAlaska


Keep up the good work - you have learned well Grasshopper.

Tabasco sauce is as good as Oxycontin as a pain reliever without the addictive dangers
Take one spoon full and swallow and your pain problem will go way

In clinical trials, patients receiving Viagra reported a 78 percent improvement in erections versus 20 percent for a placebo pill. (Note the high placebo percentage, indicating that a significant number of patients didn't need Viagra or any other medication to overcome their ED.)

Originally posted by SoymilkAlaska

every morning i wake up, and take some vitamins. i take a ginger pill, and say this will fix my back ache.

i take a vitamin E pill and say, this will fix my eyes because sometimes they feel "meh"

i take an acidophilus pill and hold it up, this one will make me happy.

i believe it. and it works.

im disappointed in myself because i haven't believed hard enough, i need to believe more, and i know that i can live as long as i want or need too.

Your affirmation could use just a bit of fine-tuning. Instead of saying these will fix you, try saying instead that each day it is getting better. Imply that it already works and that your progress is on-going.

Take a look inside yourself. With the measures you've taken you're already better, right? I hope that helps a bit.

reply to post by Drew99GT


I think this was a study proving the effectiveness of homeopathy which it did in spades. (but I could be mistaken - which I am)

Many pharmaceuticals are based on active ingredients found naturally in foods. When you take a "pill" it's something like "as if" you ate a large quantity of the medicinal food...for example in cholesterol lowering drugs it is an ingredient found in oat bran. Homeopathy is based on a different theory...giving you a bit of the disease in order to (allow your own body to mount the defense using it's natural ability to cure itself. Either way it was an excellent study, very comprehensive with many double blind tests done and the results were the same.

I just saw an ad for Accutane..."If you or anyone you know used Accutane (it was an acne medicine) and they had to have their colon removed or died...call 1 800 bad drug." It was for acne and people ended up losing their colon ...or worse they died!!! Who is going to trust the FDA on anything they approve? For get about it. Not me.

S&F for bringing it up but these sorts of topics do not get the attention they should. People think there is going to be some mass evac to FEMA camps and are waiting for the call to arms, meanwhile the drugs they are feeding us will end up doing the job without the fuss. FEMA CAMPS! Ha...they'll be for survivors of the medical, pharmaceutical industry....a few hardy souls that can't be killed quietly with all the pills they are prescribing to us.

Actually I was wrong and these are 2 completely different studies. Here is the one re: Homeopathics, fyi: Official Swiss Government Study and Report Dramatically Affirms Homeopathy’s Positive Results, Safety and Cost Effectivenesshomeopathyresource.wordpress.com... esults-safety-and-cost-effectiveness/

A new study and report by the Swiss Government has been published in an English book form. It is the most comprehensive study of homeopathy undertaken by a government. As reported on Huffington Post the report is the most significant and largest study of homeopathy ever undertaken. “The Health Technology Assessment report on effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and appropriateness of homeopathy was compiled on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health (BAG) within the framework of the ‘Program of Evaluation of Complementary Medicine (PEK)”. After carefully monitoring homeopathic treatment in Switzerland and also taking an extensive overview of all scientific studies of homeopathy it concludes that “taking internal and external validity criteria into account, effectiveness of homeopathy can be supported by clinical evidence and professional and adequate application be regarded as safe”(PubMed). They concluded that homeopathic treatment should continued to be reimbursed by Switzerland’s national health insurance program.

Originally posted by ANNED
Tabasco sauce is as good as Oxycontin as a pain reliever without the addictive dangers
Take one spoon full and swallow and your pain problem will go way

Problem with Tabasco is you build up a tolerance. I've had to switch to habanero sauce.

I've always had a gut feeling that most of the medicine prescribed is unnecessary. However stuff like insulin for diabetics doesn't have a placebo effect. There are good meds out there, just way too many junk products. This is why healthcare should not be a for profit industry.

I am sorry but your title is misleading. Even if the doctor is right - and he easily can be right - not all drugs are psychiatric drugs as you surely know.
Go and prove that placebo is as effective as aspirin in lowering fever or as penicillin in killing non-resistent bugs. How about warfarin - is it as effective as placebo in naking a person bleed if taken in higher dosages or if simply eating different diet?
Come on, if Pharma companies lie and mislead it does not mean that their opponenets should use the same.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


i don't like implying that im getting better, it makes me feel as if i am making slow progress.

i take a vitamin E pill or some other vitamin, i hold it up and say "this will work, and will completely work"

i will feel good and the problem will be solved.

Here's an interesting study that shows that even when patients KNOW they're getting the placebo the effect can still be strong.

Placebos Without Deception

I hold a masters in pharmacology and I'm currently in medical school pursuing an MD, so I know a little about drugs and placebos. I'm continually fascinated with this phenomenon (or perhaps epi-phenonmenon).