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Devil’s advocate time: the placebo effect is incredibly powerful, and for many people it’s all that’s needed.
I'm all for this but it's a slippery slope. People seem to go from using a crystal to get over a small psychological road block to thinking that vaccines cause autism real quick.
So you are saying that paying money to a scammer for a magical rock is a reasonable alternative to seeing a doctor. Also there are different types of placebo effects: https://thelogicofscience.com/2022/09/02/how-well-do-you-understand-placebo-effects
In some cases, yes. Hiccup cures are all placebo, but the placebo effect is all you need to cure hiccups anyway, so in that case they're just as good as a real cure would be if one existed.
But for something more serious where the placebo effect isn't enough, it could be actively dangerous if someone chooses the placebo over real treatment.
Never thought of it that way! Good thought.