{"id":13173,"date":"2023-08-19T10:16:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T10:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=13173"},"modified":"2023-08-20T16:03:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T16:03:48","slug":"who-needs-placebo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/placebo\/who-needs-placebo","title":{"rendered":"Who Needs Placebos?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cIf a caregiver prescribes or uses a placebo with love, he should know that the placebo is probably not needed anymore. The love is enough.\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The above is quoting myself at a congress (Montreal, 2011). I still mean it as I did back then. Love (or Compassion) may be more potent than any placebo in many cases.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s keep the definition straight.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American Society of Pain Management Nursing<\/em> defines a placebo as \u201cany sham medication or procedure designed to be void of any known therapeutic value.\u201d (*) Thus, placebo is a lie \u2015 by definition, if we reserve the term for that, as I did at the famous placebo congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this sense, the placebo effect is not just any kind of expectation effect. The latter frequently cannot be avoided. For instance, anything a physician does can have an implicit \u2018placebo effect,\u2019 which can then \u2013 avoiding the negative connotation of deception \u2013 better be called the \u2018expectation effect.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the expectation is explicitly induced, we are closer to the placebo, even if done with good intentions. At best, it\u2019s a \u2018white lie.\u2019 At worst, it\u2019s a lie that is not deontologically acceptable since it\u2019s irreconcilable with the (more and more juridically pertinent) rule of informed consent: a doctor must speak the truth to his patients except if this would have inhumane consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make love, not placebo?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a professional sense, yes. Let\u2019s talk about Compassion (as \u2018empathy beyond<\/a>\u2019) rather than love. Of course, we need to make a strict distinction here between placebo and empathy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A caregiver who treats his clients\/patients with much Compassion may need to prescribe significantly less placebo. This is another reason why to use the placebo as little as possible. In a placebo-less setting, the urge to be Compassionate may be more at the forefront since it\u2019s all there is in the toolkit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way also, in a broader perspective, the ubiquitous use of placebo may have kept medical practice as well as science away from delving head-on into empathy. This is detrimental to clients\/patients and society in the long term. It\u2019s a case of outer strength replacing Inner Strength<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a long path to travel in the universe of empathy\/Compassion<\/a>. Relatively little has been accomplished until now. That\u2019s why I envision a congress about empathy in the healthcare domain<\/a>, bringing together international experts and making a significant step in research and deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, who needs placebos?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should be at the choice of the cared-for as part of informed consent. Of course, the placebo doesn\u2019t work in openness \u2015 as I have proven in a recently submitted article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m tenacious, am I not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the lie is non-science, and placebo-as-a-lie must go<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humanly, caregivers may \u2013 implicitly and explicitly \u2013 play with expectations. However, the necessary condition for doing so must be that they learn more about what the placebo entails. Certainly, I mean with this much more than the meagerly one hour in seven years of medical studies as is generally done \u2015 and even so, it\u2019s about placebo groups in medical studies to \u2018prove\u2019 the effectiveness of healthcare treatments in double-blind studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need no thought control.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, Pink Floyd comes to the rescue. Thanks. Good insight!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to placebo-as-a-lie, one can see it as thought control, a manipulation of the thoughts of someone in dire need \u2015 being most gullible, which is a reason why the placebo is effective in its own way. Something is active, but it\u2019s the receiver\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter also shows who\u2019s in the driver\u2019s seat, eventually \u2015 not the placebo itself. So, to avoid accidents on the road to better health, it\u2019s better to be open \u2015 not to cover the driver\u2019s eyes with a few pills or procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s even better to teach the driver to drive better.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does AURELIS come to mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Lisa?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(*) Arnstein P, Broglio K, Wuhrman E, Kean MB. Use of placebos in pain management. Pain Manag Nurs Off J Am Soc Pain Manag Nurses. 2011 Dec;12(4):225\u20139.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>

Please login to bookmark<\/h3>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf a caregiver prescribes or uses a placebo with love, he should know that the placebo is probably not needed anymore. The love is enough.\u201d The above is quoting myself at a congress (Montreal, 2011). I still mean it as I did back then. Love (or Compassion) may be more potent than any placebo in Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>

Please login to bookmark<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/2177-2.jpg?fit=960%2C560&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Fdiq-3qt","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13173"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13199,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13173\/revisions\/13199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}