The crazy part is placebo often works even if you're aware of it. You can knowingly take a blank pill and it will help you. Like c'mon brain, can't we just skip the middleman?
this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2026
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My afternoon cup of tea heals all things
If you write "50% more placebo effect" on something, it will work better.
Just imagine yourself healthy hard enough and you'll be fine.
If you believe imagining works, it actually will. Source: magic feedback loops for dummies
So that’s what the crystal hippies have been doing
Modern studies find that placebos can affect some outcomes such as pain and nausea, but otherwise do not generally have important clinical effects.
That's not correct
Sham Surgeries: Invasive fake procedures (such as skin incisions for knee arthritis or Parkinson's treatments) consistently yield the largest placebo responses, sometimes matching real surgery outcomes entirely because the extreme ritual maximizes patient expectation.
Placebos constantly outperform "drugs" in psychiatric disorders.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2818945
There are a LOT of FDA approved, expensive drugs that do FUCK ALL and have serious side effects.
Sham Surgeries: [...]sometimes matching real surgery outcomes entirely
And when this is discovered they discontinue the conventional surgery as a treatment. Because that proves it isn't effective.
Placebos constantly outperform "drugs" in psychiatric disorders.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2818945
I couldn't find the part of the article that supported your statement.
There are a LOT of FDA approved, expensive drugs that do FUCK ALL and have serious side effects.
Yes, being better than a placebo is a very low bar.
Because that proves it isn't effective.
It doesn't mean it's not effective. It means that it has the same outcome.
It's just more proof that some people could be easily fixed if they were just stabbed a little.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/29/health/placebos-improve-mental-health-conditions-wellness
St. Johns wort vs placebo.
https://www.science.org/content/article/st-johns-wort-works-no-wonders
And when this is discovered they discontinue the conventional surgery as a treatment. Because that proves it isn’t effective.
Actually no. What this resulted in is drug companies arguing they ethically should not have to do sham surgery controls in trials. But approval of expensive surgeries that don't work is somehow ethical.
It works in reverse too!
We used to do this in med school classes around 2005. We asked students to take a "drug" and report effects. We had to stop because some students reported severe side effects. Even the shape and color can cause a placebo effect.
I case you wondering why health food shop supplements are packaged in pills and capsules and pill vials -they want the bullshit they are selling to look like a drug and ride the placebo effect to big money.
A good case study is Enzyte, marketed on late TV as an herbal ED remedy, with Bob.
They would give you a free sample if you called a number. It was all placebo, there was no drug. But this is not illegal. The owner of Enzyte was eventually shut down by the FBI for how they were handling money, tax evasion, laundering, ...but Enzyte triggered $250M in sales a year. While Steve Warshak got sentenced to 25 years in jail, they found an incredible $500M they seized.
You can still buy Enzyte today. Today the scam continues with gas station "drugs", some of which contain actual stimulants, but most contain rice powder or talc.