Snow Leopard
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Placebo effects are not the “power of positive thinking”
Posted by David Gorski on January 13, 2014
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/ted-kaptchuk-versus-placebo-effects-again
This is a surprisingly intersting article presented on SBM, along with the comments that suggest that much of the "placebo effect" is due to biases in reporting outcomes and pain, rather than underlying biological effects. Along with wishful thinking and speculative interpretations of the data by researchers and physicians after the fact.
It is very easy to prime patients into reporting different things on self report questionnaires and even general conversation. This is why double-blinded randomised controlled trials are so important and it is why RCTs which rely on self report outcomes and do not have a blinded control group should be considered invalid.
Posted by David Gorski on January 13, 2014
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/ted-kaptchuk-versus-placebo-effects-again
This is a surprisingly intersting article presented on SBM, along with the comments that suggest that much of the "placebo effect" is due to biases in reporting outcomes and pain, rather than underlying biological effects. Along with wishful thinking and speculative interpretations of the data by researchers and physicians after the fact.
It is very easy to prime patients into reporting different things on self report questionnaires and even general conversation. This is why double-blinded randomised controlled trials are so important and it is why RCTs which rely on self report outcomes and do not have a blinded control group should be considered invalid.