Placebo effect

Placebo effect: It is what happens when a person takes a medication that he or she perceives will help, although it actually has no proven therapeutic effect for his or her particular condition.

The medicine or treatment itself is known as a placebo, from Latin for "I will please." There are a few different types of placebos. They may be pharmacologically inert, meaning that they contain no active ingredients. These types of placebos often contain basic ingredients like sugar (hence the term "sugar pill").

Medications that do have active ingredients but aren't proven to work on the patient's particular condition can also be placebos. There have even been placebos in the form of surgery, injections and other types of medical therapies.

Placebos have been shown to work in about 30 percent of patients, and they've been used by doctors for ages. In fact, they were often the only thing that a doctor could offer to relieve suffering, other than his or her attention and support. Some researchers believe that placebos simply evoke a psychological response. The act of taking them gives you an improved sense of well-being.

However, recent research indicates that placebos may also bring about a physical response. In light of this, some people don't see anything wrong with a doctor prescribing a placebo. After all, he or she is doing it to help the patient. But others see the practice not only as harmful, but unethical, deceptive and possibly even illegal.

Science behind Placebo Effect:

Theory behind the placebo effect is the subject-expectancy effect. When people already know what the result of taking a pill is supposed to be, they might unconsciously change their reaction to bring about that result, or simply report that result as the outcome even if it wasn't.