Mind Hacks On Placebo Side Effects
From the Mind Hacks blog:
…the side-effects you get from a sugar pill in a study on anticonvulsant drugs closely resemble side-effects you get from anticonvulsants and are different from the side-effects you get from a sugar pill in a study on pain killers, which more closely resemble pain killer side-effects.
It has been long recognized that placebos can have side effects just as they might relieve distress.1 The point to the cited study is that the placebo side effects mirror the indicated side effects for the actual drug. Amazing.
The discussion of the placebo effect can be lengthy. In general, placebos are used in settings that rouse hope, are filled with healers - doctors, therapists, etc. - and diminish apprehension and other dysphoric states. A patient no doubt experiences many positive emotions in such a setting and is likely to recall the experience many times, repeating a sequence of hopeful emotions. There would be a direct link to improved feelings and moods. Like placebo studies, there are many others that link the success of treatment to quality of a patient’s mood.
Could it be that modern drug advertisements with there recitations of a lengthy catalog of side effects, create unfavorable expectations? Might people now hold an unconscious litany of possible disasters? If the possibility of taking medication (real or placebo) triggers anxiety then couldn’t the placebo effect work in reverse?
To me, the discussion of placebos points directly to the force of the stories we live by.
UPDATE: Science Daily posted a more traditional write up of the placebo effect:
When used "off-label," the antidepressant amitriptyline works just as well as placebo in treating pain-predominant gastrointestinal disorders in children, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.
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Wolf S., Pinsky RH. Effects of placebo administration and occurrence of toxic reactions. J Am Med Assoc. 1954 May 22;155(4):339–341. A citation I found in Frank, J. D., & Frank, J. B. (1993). Persuasion and Healing: A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ↩
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