A study performed by researchers at Harvard University has shown that placebos can be an effective treatment even when patients are not deceived into thinking they are taking actual medicine. The scientiests divided the 80 participants - all sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) - into two groups. One group was a control group and didn't receive any kind of treatment. The other group was given pills to take two times a day, however the scientists explained to the group that the pills were similar to sugar pills. The participants were never told that the pills contained any medicine, and even the container was labeled "placebo."
At the conclusion of the study, about thirty-five percent of the people who received no treatment at all reported an improvement in symptoms. Unexpectedly, nearly sixty percent of the participants who recieved a placebo reported an improvement in symptoms. Additionally, the placebo group graded their improvements similarly to the improvement generally reported by people who take IBS medications.
Two medications, Lubiprostone and Alosetron, have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of IBS, but they are used only as a last resort as they have a number of unpleasant or unhealthy side effects.
If a harmless placebo can have the same result, it is a better alternative than taking medications that may make patients feel worse than their actual illness. A number of other studies have reported between thirty and forthy percent of people who took placebos had an improvement in their conditions, but that was under deception, when the patients didn't know that they weren't taking actual medication.
And these findings are not only relevant for for IBS sufferers. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that placebos have virtually identical effects as widely prescribed antidepressants on patients who suffer from mild to moderate depression.
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