For those who are interested, I came across an
interesting placebo study.80 patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome were recruited and randomly split them into two groups: one who took a placebo pill twice a day, and another who didn’t take any treatments. Every patient had a detailed consultation with one of the team, who explained that placebo pills were “inert or inactive pills, like sugar pills, without any medication in it”.
They told the patients that “placebo pills, something like sugar pills, have been shown in rigorous clinical testing to produce significant mind-body self-healing processes.” And they explained: that “the placebo effect is powerful; the body can automatically respond to taking placebo pills like Pavlov’s dogs who salivated when they heard a bell; a positive attitude helps but is not necessary; and taking the pills faithfully is critical.”
Before the trial, the patients answered several questionnaires about the severity of their symptoms, whether they had recently improved or worsened, whether they experienced any relief from their symptoms, and their quality of life. After 21 days, they answered the same questions again. The author found that those who had been taking placebo pills felt better than those who didn’t take anything. They reported more relief and larger improvements in their symptoms, which had become less severe. Only quality of life was not significantly different between the two groups.
This is an interesting study, but further work needs to be done, the sample size is too small and a replication study is required before anything be said for sure. This study is very intriguing nonetheless, the placebo effect worked even when the patients were told they were taking sugar pills.