标题: Placebo Effect [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 2-16-2016 13:09 标题: Placebo Effect John J Ross, Measuring the Placebo Effect; Churchgoers seem to live longer than non-churchgoers -- an effect that may have more to do with stress reduction than divine intervention. Wall Street Journal, Feb 16, 2016 http://www.wsj.com/articles/the- ... thinking-1455578018
(book review on Jo Marchant, Cure; A journey into the science of mind over body. Crown, 2016)
Quote:
"The more drastic the placebo, the greater the response. Capsules are better than pills, injections trump capsules and placebo surgeries work best of all. The favored remedies of the 19th century, such as toxic doses of mercury and copious bloodletting by lancet and leech, were especially ferocious placebos, abetted by the plausibility and charisma of their practitioners.
"the effects of placebos 'tend to be limited to symptoms—things that we are consciously aware of, such as pain, itches, rashes or diarrhea.' According to Ms Marchant, 'placebo effects also seem to be particularly strong for psychiatric disorders * * *
"The opposite of the placebo effect is the nocebo effect. Injections hurt more when the patient is told to expect a little bee sting, compared with simply being told that the needle is going in. Similarly, patients have more side effects from a new medication when their doctor warns them that they may occur.
"in the United States, where those in the top 10% of income live about 10 years longer than those in the bottom 10%. This effect holds up even after controlling for health behaviors such as alcohol, tobacco and drug use. Poverty and lack of control leads to chronic stress [thus reducing lifespan] * ** When it comes to health outcomes here on Earth, a God who is mild and forgiving might be preferable. As Ms Marchant notes, belief in 'an angry or judgmental God seems to make people more stressed, with subsequent effects on their health.'
"Mainstream practitioners often regard alternative medicine as, at best, an outlet for patients such as Mrs Renfrew in 'Middlemarch,' for whom 'the fullness of professional knowledge might need the supplement of quackery.' Conversely, patients may turn to alternative therapies because conventional physicians sometimes do a lousy job of providing attention and empathy. * * * any medicine that makes a patient better, whether conventional, alternative, or placebo, is simply medicine.
Note:
(a) John J Ross, MD. Brigham and Women's Hospital, undated
physiciandirectory.brighamandwomens.org/Details/52
(Academic Title: Instructor, Harvard Medical School; Specialty: Hospitalist; MD McGill University 1992)
(ii) About Us: What Is a Hospitalist? Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, Univ of California, San Diego, undated,
hospitalmedicine.ucsd.edu/people/about.shtml
Compare the Latin meaning of "placebo."
(c) Middlemarch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlemarch
("a novel by English author George Eliot, first published in eight instalments (volumes) during 1871–2. The novel is set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during 1829–32")