ITEMS OF INTEREST July 10, 2006 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

with contributions from Marco Visscher, Ray Waddle

"HOW IS IT PEOPLE GET BETTER after an operation that provides no active treatment? It figures as a spectacular example of the placebo effect, a phenomenon that has been known for centuries, but is still hard to grasp.

"The placebo effect is the sudden healing of a patient through treatment that is not scientifically effective but works because the patient believes in it. A placebo—Latin for 'I shall please'—is surgery or medicine that contains no active ingredients but promotes healing.

"Doctors have been aware of the occurrence for centuries and have made conscious use of it to put patients at ease. . . .

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