Difference between revisions of "Placebo effect"
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A '''placebo''' is a [[substance]] or [[treatment]] used as a decoy in studies for the "control" part of the sample. Part of the study group will receive a placebo, and the remainder the group will receive the new [[medication]] being studied, so that the differences in outcome may be compared. | A '''placebo''' is a [[substance]] or [[treatment]] used as a decoy in studies for the "control" part of the sample. Part of the study group will receive a placebo, and the remainder the group will receive the new [[medication]] being studied, so that the differences in outcome may be compared. | ||
Revision as of 21:10, December 2, 2008
A placebo is a substance or treatment used as a decoy in studies for the "control" part of the sample. Part of the study group will receive a placebo, and the remainder the group will receive the new medication being studied, so that the differences in outcome may be compared.
It is well known to medical researchers that merely assuring someone that a treatment will be successful, greatly increases the chance of the treatment actually working.[Citation Needed] For example, a tension headache will frequently disappear if the patient believes they are being given an analgesic.[1] This is known as the placebo effect. Its effect is due entirely to the psychological effect of a patient knowing they are receiving a treatment.
The effectiveness of a pain relief medicine is always contrasted with the effectiveness of a placebo. The question is not how well it relieves pain, but how much better is it than a placebo?
Example of Drug vs Placebo in Headache Pain Management
| Two hours after treatment of an in-progress moderate or severe headache, 49% of patients given 100 mg of sumatriptan reported no or mild pain, a significantly greater response rate than the 38% among the placebo group. At 4 hours, the response rate was 64% with sumatriptan and 45% with placebo. — [2] |
