Chapter 01 of 5
Sugar Pills That Work
The placebo effect — what it is, and what it can and can't do.
- The Word
'I shall please'
'Placebo' is Latin for 'I shall please'. Doctors once used the word for remedies given more to comfort patients than to cure them.
- The Effect
Feeling better from nothing
The placebo effect is improvement that comes from believing you're receiving treatment, rather than from the treatment itself.
- Wartime
Saltwater for pain
Anaesthetist Henry Beecher reported that during World War II, some wounded soldiers given saltwater injections said their pain eased.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
In a 2008 study, which placebo pills gave volunteers more pain relief?
Read the rest in Drift
Free · no account needed · Don't scroll. Drift.
💊 The Power of Expectation
- 01Sugar Pills That WorkThe placebo effect — what it is, and what it can and can't do.
- 02The Nocebo EffectWhen expecting harm makes you feel worse.
- 03Fake Surgery, Real ResultsTrials where pretend operations worked as well as real ones.
- 04Honest PlacebosPlacebos that help even when patients know they're fake.
- 05What's Really HappeningSeparating real placebo effects from things that only look like them.