Placebo: Mind Over Matter in Modern MedicineCan we really cure ourselves of disease by the power of thought alone? Faith healers and alternative therapists are convinced that we can, but what does science say? Contrary to public perception, orthodox medical opinion is remarkably confident about the healing powers of the mind. For the past fifty years, doctors have been taught that placebos such as sugar pills and water injections can relieve virtually any kind of medical condition. Yet placebos only work if you believe they work, so the medical confidence in the power of the placebo effect has provided scientific legitimacy to popular claims about the healing power of the mind. In this intriguing exploration, Dylan Evans exposes the flaws in the scientific research into the placebo effect and reveals the limits of what can and cannot be cured by thought alone. Drawing on new ideas in immunology and evolutionary biology, Evans proposes a new theory about how placebos work, and asks some searching questions about our concepts of health and disease |
Contents
What can Placebos Really do? | 25 |
The Acute Phase Response | 44 |
The Belief Effect | 70 |
Why? The Evolutionary Question | 96 |
Nocebo Beyond Good and Bad | 119 |
The Alternatives | 141 |
Psychotherapy the Purest Placebo? | 164 |
The Witch Doctors Dilemma | 181 |
Conclusion | 199 |
| 216 | |
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Common terms and phrases
acquired immune system acupuncture acute phase response alternative medicine alternative therapies antidepressant anxiety argued Beecher belief effect better body brain cancer cebo cent century Chapter chemical claims clinical trials compared complementary medicine control group cortisol cream cure depression doctors endorphins ethical evidence evolutionary evolved example experience experimental fact feel fever headaches healing homeopathy human idea immune activity immune cells immune conditioning immune response improvement infection inflammation innate immune system involved kind Kirsch known Lancet levels mechanisms medical conditions medical research meta-analysis mind molecules natural killer cells natural selection no-treatment group nocebo orthodox pain painkiller Parkinson's disease patients perhaps placebo effect placebo group placebo response placebo-controlled placebo-responsive conditions powerful problem psychological psychologists psychotherapy pure placebo real drug receiving respond to placebos result scientific scientists side-effects simply statistical studies sugar pill suggests suppressing the acute swelling symptoms therapeutic therapists thing treated treatment trigger ulcers ultrasound various volunteers Voudouris
References to this book
Trick Or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine Simon Singh,Edzard Ernst No preview available - 2008 |