#3
Yes. They literally cut into people’s heads, drilled into their skulls, opened the dura, and then… did nothing. Just closed them up again. All while these people were under the impression they might be getting real treatment.
And the patients volunteered. They were fully informed, and many of them still said “yeah, sign me up.” Because Parkinson’s is brutal, and there wasn’t much else.
What’s even crazier is that the placebo effect was strong. Some of the people who got the fake surgery still showed improvement — like actual, measurable symptom relief. Meanwhile, some of the ones who got the real transplant didn’t do much better. In fact, a few got worse and developed dyskinesias (uncontrollable movements).
The whole thing blew up ethically. Some people called it groundbreaking science. Others called it straight-up medical cruelty. But it did force the medical community to rethink how we test surgeries, especially brain-related ones.
Anyway, just thought that was one of the wildest examples of placebo power I’ve ever read. Imagine signing up for brain surgery and not knowing if it’s real or just a high-stakes illusion.
As often happens, it all started on the AskReddit community, where the user u/Educational_Eye_443 just a few days ago created a thread asking: "What is just a placebo effect but most people don't realize?"
The resulting thread went viral with over 6.1K upvotes and counting so far, and around 2K various comments making for a truly heated debate. So now, meet our selection of the most interesting and controversial opinions from this thread!
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The word "placebo" itself comes from a Latin root, meaning "I will please." Originally, in the funeral dirges of professional mourners in the Middle Ages, who were paid to mourn the deceased at public funerals, there were the words "Placebo Domino" - that is, "I will please the Lord." And, of course, this grief, even if performed at a high acting level, was insincere.
The French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, in one of his treatises, drawing the reader's attention to these mourners as an example of how this fake grief actually helps relatives to endure loss, also wrote: "There are people for whom only attention from medicine is quite effective." Then, in the 18th century, the placebo effect was first mentioned in a medical context.
#7
When doing experiments with a control/placebo group, we always talk about how the d**g/treatment/etc "didn't outperform the placebo."
We should be talking about WHY THE PLACEBO WORKS as good as the d**g/treatment.
The placebo effect is just this thing we know exists and like "wow, isn't that neat?" but we tend to under-research why/how it works, and maybe how we can actually improve it/increase it. I'm ZERO for woo-woo, but you can't deny that placebo effect is actually real.
(FTR, my answer to this is essential oils. People think they "heal." Nah, you like nice smells and you feel better after smelling nice things).
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#9
Right before I was about to push, another nurse came in and said (about the button), "yeah the placebo effect is crazy".
Ruined everything for me.
In modern medicine, a placebo is used sparingly - mainly as an attempt to reduce the patient's suffering, pain or nausea. However, the main mechanism of a placebo is pain reduction due to the production of endorphins in the patient’s body, since they’re sure that they have been given a real, active medicine.
The authors of numerous studies devoted to placebos and their effects on the human body claim that the clinical effect is usually manifested only in relation to pain and phobias - but still cannot be compared even with the effect of classic painkillers.
However, in the public consciousness, as we can clearly see from this selection of ours, there are much more widespread manifestations of the placebo effect.
#12
On the other hand, supporters of the use of placebos will definitely say - if it all works and really helps people believe in the best (and the basis of the placebo effect is precisely human faith), then what's actually wrong with it?
However, there is also an opposite effect - the so-called "nocebo effect." When a medicine doesn’t have a real pharmacological effect, but at the same time causes a sharp rejection in the patient on a physical level. So, how then can we separate placebo from nocebo? Well everyone has their own opinion on this matter.
#13
Lie detectors don't work.
The person administering the test will convince the subject that lie detectors work every time and they are infallible at reading the results.
After the test, the interviewer will press the subject claiming that the lie detector showed a positive result.
All they are trying to do is to elicit a confession, but it is amazingly effective.
#14
The placebo effect people fall for with postpartum hair products is that they start using them right as hair is naturally shedding, but the hair would’ve grown back anyway.
Since regrowth begins a few months later (part of the normal hair cycle), people think the product “worked,” when in reality, it was just their body resetting like it was always going to.
The product gets credit for something biology did on its own.
#15
I think you will agree one hundred percent with some of the opinions expressed in this selection, and some of them will be completely unacceptable to you. Well, that's what's great about human communication, that you can always find food for discussion and even debate. So now please just read this list and, perhaps, share your own examples in the comments to the post - and let the debate begin again!
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#19
I looked at the gel on the patch, and noticed it was just nicotine in this stuff like petroleum jelly. I decided "it's kind of like a lotion!" So whenever things got stressful and I **really** wanted a cigarette, I'd rub that patch, telling myself that I was rubbing in more nicotine, like a lotion. I also noticed that my arm got warm from rubbing the patch, so that was opening my pores to allow more nicotine in!
It got me through those urges to rip off the patch and go smoke!
#20
