This 'Placebo' Could Be The Drug For You : NPR

This 'Placebo' Could Be The Drug For You : NPR:

"...researchers from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. They conducted a study among people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. It showed that placebos, essentially sugar pills with no active ingredients, fooled plenty.

Here's the catch - the researchers actually told patients they were taking placebos. Despite that, according to the study, they showed symptom relief, quote, 'to a degree roughly equivalent to the effects of the most powerful IBS medications.' Scientists aren't sure what to make of the findings, but suspect that the ritual of getting a pill, even a useless one, sometimes does the trick..."