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Originally Posted by ratbastid
Except that the placebo effect DOES work (or at least CAN work). It has been tested and proven to work--enough so that there's concern among the medical community that not controlling for placebo effect in randomized double-blind placebo-controlled studies may be causing an under-reporting of the actual efficacy of tested medicines. It's hard for people to accept, because it doesn't work via any mechanism that medical science can currently explain. But dismissing snake-oil out of hand simply because it's snake-oil begs the question.
"Doc, when the will is invoked, the recuperative powers of the physical body are simply extraordinary. Just give me a couple of hours to get dressed."
--Agent Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks
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Actually the question isn't about if the placebo affect is real.
The 'gold standard' for a drug trial is the double blind with a placebo. If the drug doesn't do BETTER than the placebo, then its not a good drug, if it does, than you have a potential winner.
So the placebo affect is already built into the treatment, you ideally should be getting drugs which have already shown they are a better than just thinking you are taking the drugs.