Placebo Effect Experiment: Understanding Psychological Phenomena

This report presents a study on the placebo effect, exploring its impact on individuals experiencing stress, anxiety, and mood disorders. The experiment involved administering a placebo tablet to three participants over five days, with the participants reporting positive emotional changes. The study aims to understand the emotional attachments patients have towards medication, even in the absence of active pharmaceutical ingredients. The report delves into the definition of the placebo effect, its historical context, and the psychological and biological theories explaining its occurrence. It discusses various factors influencing the placebo effect, such as patient expectations, the patient-caregiver relationship, and the role of the mind in the healing process. Additionally, it covers the nocebo effect and the importance of understanding both effects in modern medicine, as well as real-world examples of placebo effects in clinical settings, including pain management and conditions like Parkinson's disease. The report emphasizes the potential of the placebo effect to enhance the recuperative power of the mind and improve patient outcomes.

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PLACEBO EFFECT EXPERIMENT
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ABSTRACT
In this research, a study was conducted
about the placebo phenomenon. A
placebo effect on people with problems
of stress, anxiety and moody behaviours
was undertaken to find out how it works.
The use of a placebo parasol tablets was
used on three people for five days taking
one pill per day. After the fourth day, all
of them responded to be feeling happy
due to the use of the placebo tablet. This
study was aimed at finding out the
emotional attachments towards drugs by
patients oblivion of the fact that active
pharmaceutical ingredient was absent on
the tablet.

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Placebo effect experiment
Introduction
A placebo is a non-therapeutic substance
with no effect on the disease of interest
such as saline water, sugar pill or sterile
water while in some cases it can produce
positive results. More focus has been on
the placebo effect which has been there
for centuries. It is indicative that the
effect is apparent on the person’s
expectation on the drug to bring about a
positive response. Research has shown
that under the right conditions, the
placebo effect can be active as the
conventional ones. During the
development of a new drug, researchers
conduct various studies to compare the

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effectiveness of a drug with a placebo
one. This is because any drug can have a
placebo effect not related to its actions.
For a drug to be useful in the treatment,
its effectiveness must surpass those of the
placebo (Benedetti 2014).
It has been proved over a long period that
placebo substance when administered to
people especially the senior citizens with
the assurance of treating, produce
positive results since the brain and mind
are convinced, thus self-healing takes
place. Anticipations of the sick person
usually play a vital duty in the dummy
impact. There will be a higher probability
for the patient to show placebo effect
after treatment if there is optimism. The

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placebo effect offers unique opportunities
to understand the relationships in the
environment, mental and brain processes.
It is doubtful to have one theory
explaining the placebo effect since it cuts
across all the medical disciplines hence
psychological and biological explanations
have been put forward. Currently, two
psychological theories have been put
forward to define the placebo effect. The
theories are classical conditioning and
expectational theories (Bakermans-
Kranenburg and Van Ijzendoorn 2013).
There have been various theories
presented as to why the placebo effect
occurs and patients can have a change in
relief of symptoms directly through the

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belief that they are taking the actual drug.
One of the theories presented about the
placebo is especially the subject-
expectancy effect (Boisson et al. 2013). It
is very imperative to note that when
individual people know that taking a
given medication brings about a
particular reaction, they unconsciously
tend to bring out the expected outcome of
the possible response of the drug. Here,
the stimulus is the medicine received
while the reaction is the relief in the
symptoms. Placebos rely mostly on the
body-mind to produce chemicals that act
naturally like the actual drug because of
the expectations on the outcome.

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Another theory placebo effect presented
was that of the positive patient-caregiver
relationship, where the doctor assures the
patient of positive response. This has
been tremendously used for mild
illnesses and conditions which are
especially partly related to stress like;
anxiety disorders, hypertension, and
asthma (Bartels et al. 2014).
People, who always experience the
placebo effect, are told that they are
taking the real medical treatment and can
bring about an improvement on the
symptoms. It can also be associated with
the psychological influence on the
placebo. Some people taking the placebo
feel better while others develop side

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effects. This coincidental change is one
of the reasons attributed to giving credit
to the placebo whenever it works. A
medical practitioner plays a significant
role in generating the placebo effect since
he or she possesses the placebogenic and
prognostic power, significantly
increasing the healing potential (Bovier,
Renzi and Hammond 2014).
The mind usually has been associated
with having a strong influence on the
body thus enhancing it to heal naturally.
It sometimes deceives one to believe on
the therapeutic power of the placebo
bringing about the placebo effect. In
certain situations, these dummies tend to
put forth a positive impact by mimicking

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the actual results of the treatment
interactions. The above studies are very
vital in research as it helps to identify the
psychological and physiological effects
of new medications that are being
developed (Brim and Miller 2013).
Placebo effects play a significant role in
successful medical treatments in the
modern world. The nocebo effect also has
a considerable influence, for it
contributes largely on the detailed side
effects for many medical interventions.
For a far longtime, many studies have
been carried out to reducing placebo
effects; however, there has been a
paradigm shift, with more effort in
increasing placebo effects to enhance

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available medical care and in looking for
avenues to reduce nocebo effects to
improve medical result. To get tangible
results, a clear overview of the emotional
and neurobiological pathways of the
placebo and nocebo reaction is requisite
(Büchel, Geuter, Sprenger and Eippert
2014).
A research was carried out on three
people by giving them a placebo (parasol
tablet) for five days taking one daily.
Convincingly, it was told to them that by
taking the placebo daily, it would
increase positivity and happiness. At the
end of the fourth day, the response was
all about being happy and confident. In
this regard, expectations are tied towards

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the placebo does not make it fake or
imaginary instead it tends to show the
physical changes that occur due to its use,
for instance, production of endorphins as
a pain reliever by the body. Placebo
effects have been shown to occur in 21%
to 40% of patients dependent on study
type (Colloca, Klinger, Flor and Bingel
2013). For example, studies carried out
on pain by brain imaging shows that
patient who thought to be receiving a
painkiller medication, consequently,
resulted in the stimulation of the brain
endogenous opioid system and the
production of natural pain-relieving
chemicals in the body (Brown and Brown
2013).

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Various factors have been attributed
toward how people feel when being
administered the placebos. It includes the
condition of the sickness; the perception
patients believe the therapy expected to
bring about, kind of result the patient
expects to experience, the close
relationship between the patient and the
caregiver and kind of genes of the
patients also play a significant role. One
of the greatest studied and powerful
placebo effects is in the area of
analgesics. According to statistics,
approximately thirty to sixty per cent of
patients will feel that their suffering has
reduced after taking a placebo pill (Kim
et al. 2013).