UNIT 5: THE PLACEBO EFFECT

a. General information about the placebo effect

placebo = fake medical treatment
- sugar pills: contain no real (1) ____actual active________ ingredients
- fake medical therapy or (2) ____surgery________
- sham treatement

placebo effect = positive (3) __response__________ = improvement in a person’s health

not the medicine but their (4) ____belief________ that is actually helpful

1930s-1940s: doctors often give patients placebos to treat aches, pains and other
(5) ____minor complaints________

Patient claim to feel better

At present: placebos are used in (6) _clinial trials___________ of new drugs and other
treatments

 blind clinical trial :

2 groups: 1 group receive the real treatment, the other receives a placebo
The researchers know which group gets the real and the placebo
 double-blind clinical trial:
both the researchers and the participants do not know who get the real and the
placebo

Purpose: guarantee that their (7) __expectations__________ don’t influence the results

Result: in both trials, the placebo effect is (8) _____very common_______.

b. Possible causes for placebo effect

 Natural course of an illness or an injury
 Placebo effect is (9) ______purely psychological______
 Process of going through treatment is (10) ____empirical________
c. Some studies of the placebo effect
UCLA: (11) ______51______ patients suffered from (12) _____depression_______

Group 1: a placebo (14) _____began to_______ feel better

Group 2: actual (13) _______anti 52% feel better
depressant_____ drug
Why important?
Doctors should be able to prescribe (15) ___them_____: give a try and see if patients (16)
___respond_________ to them
Some doctors find placebos (17) ____dishonest________