Everyday Evidence of the Mind’s Reality: the Placebo Effect
The placebo effect — you get better because you think you will — may be getting stronger, as researchers manipulate it more effectivelyHave you ever had this experience? You go to a doctor to get a letter excusing you from work or school because you are laid up with a cold or flu — and then you started to feel better while just sitting there? That’s the placebo effect. You shouldn’t feel better; after all, you are asking for a doctor’s note. Yet … if you have had any experience with this sort of thing, you also know that this evening, when you are alone and in isolation, those symptoms may well be back, maybe worse. That surge of wellness in the doctor’s office is the placebo effect, one of 13 things that don’t make sense, according to popular science writer Michael Read More ›
