After starting with a brief historical account of the placebo effect organized around the elaboration of clinical trials and around sham therapy as a method, we will offer a psychosocial point of view on the placebo phenomenon. The placebo effect is at the heart of medicine and particularly of thera …

Peripheral Neuropathy symptoms usually start with numbness, prickling or tingling in the toes or fingers. It may spread up to the feet or hands and cause burning, freezing, throbbing and/or shooting pain that is often worse at night. The pain can be either constant or periodic, but usually the pain is felt equally on both … Read More »

Examination of the literature suggests that placebo response rates in studies of anxiolytics are influences by a number of factors, including both endogenous and exogenous variables. High placebo response rates may mask true drug response rates and may result from poor study design or lack of proced …

Over the decades of experimentation on the placebo effect, it has become clear that it is driven largely by expectation, and that strong expectations of efficacy are more likely to give rise to the experience of benefit. No wonder the placebo effect has come to resemble a self-fulfilling prophecy. H …

This paper starts by defining placebos, and describes several placebo effects observed in orthodox medicine. The authors argue that the concept of the placebo effect should not be confined to treatment and medicine alone, but should be extended to the therapeutic relationship itself. They maintain t …

TOXIC NEUROPATHY CONSORTIUM (TNC) MISSION AND VISION

The Declaration of Helsinki (DoH), adopted by the World Medical Association (WMA), is one of the most influential international documents in research ethics, is turning 50 in 2014. Its regular updates, seven versions (1975, 1983, 1989, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2013) and two notes of clarification (2002, 20 …

The data obtained from Swiss primary care providers reflect a broad variety of views about placebo interventions as well as a widespread uncertainty regarding their legitimacy. Primary care providers seem to preferentially use impure as compared to pure placebos in their daily practice. An intense d …