wws@ukma.UUCP (Bill Stoll) (07/20/85)
In response to Craig Werner's notes about Placebos and how they mess up "decent research". I'm new to the net and so may have missed enough of the forgoing to not really understand his position. I was taught in Medical School to distain the placebo effect. It turns out that the average new drug effectiveness is about 75%. Since the average negative side effects of new drugs is >30%, and the placebo effect accounts for about 40% in most studies, the total positive effectiveness of new drugs is about 5% above placebo. It seems to me the new field of "psychoneuroimmunology" is long over due. This new field is tying immune changes to the effect on endorphins of biofeedback, meditation, hypnosis, attitude, stress (both physical and mental), etc. The placebo effect has always been the single most powerful part of any therapy. It has not been utilized partly because we had not advanced enough scientifically to study it until recently but, mainly because it does not require a prescription. Research money is placed where it is most likely to create a $ return. The main beneficiary of the placebo effect is the person with the problem. cbosgd!ukma!wws(walt Stoll)