The funny thing is that the "extra strength" placebos likely have a better chance of working. The more elaborate and involved the placebo is, the greater the chance of it actually working even if you know it is a placebo. Our minds are weird. As always, I'm too lazy to look up the actual study so I don't know if it was a quality study or not.
Somebody from Behavioural Economics has actually shown a nocebo effect for something with genuine positive health effects when people tought it was an ultra cheap version.
The story of that is in one of the Freakonomics books.
This reminded me of an episode of Mind Field, which shows significant improvent in cases of ADHD, Migraines, and a skin picking disorder in kids just through the placebo effect.
They use elaborate set ups and suggestions like a turned off MRI machine, fake nurses and doctors in lab coats, etc. And the kids are actually told, that it's their brain doing the healing, not the machine.
Yeah, I heard that the placebo effect for pain meds is stronger in the US (than in Europe?) because there's more advertisment for it in the US (how they made sure this is causation and not correlation I have no idea, though ...)
I believe it's red placebos that are better at helping with pain.
The brain is a fucky old thing.
It's been a while since I looked at this, but different color pills "work" better for different ailments. Also the size and numbers of pills effect results as well. Two pills are "stronger" than one, bigger pills over smaller as well.
I only use brand name placebos. Generic doesn't work for me.
I find you have to use twice as much to have any effect.
People wanna tell me there's no such thing as magic in a world where The Placebo Effect exists. Bro's got a low level healing spell that grows stronger the more he believes it works.
Also money. It only works if you believe in it, yet it controls all of society
they work even when you know they're placebos. now that's magic.
If it works. I do not care how.
I agree. However, to me, something feels wrong about companies making money selling a product to people with the promise that they work when they don't actually do anything in and of themselves. It's false advertising plus taking money out of people's pockets.
IIRC, studies have also shown that the cost of the placebo had a direct correlation to the efficacy. Ah yes: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4345649/
Conclusion:
Expensive placebo significantly improved motor function and decreased brain activation in a direction and magnitude comparable to, albeit less than, levodopa. Perceptions of cost are capable of altering the placebo response in clinical studies.
It's not stupid if it works
But be careful with the dose
Take too much of a placebo and you might end up with a nocebo side-effect.
Just pretend you took an ephemeral pill. Placebos work like that too.
I only use homeopathic placebos.
This is very true after learning about guaifenesin, phenylephrine, and Docusate Sodium.
Brand Named Extra Strength!
Very relevant and pretty recent SciShow episode:
