Keith R. Holden, M.D., Contributor
Waking Times
Research on the placebo effect is ramping up across the world because it proves the amazing power of the mind in health and healing. Peer-reviewed medical journals are reporting information about the placebo effect that was just a few years ago considered pseudoscience by science-based skeptics and academicians.
Researchers who study the placebo effect know that clinical studies must be designed that carefully control for variables, such as spontaneous remission and bias, to accurately determine the real placebo effect. They also know these studies must include a no treatment group. These more carefully designed studies reveal that a large part of the real placebo effect lies in psychological factors, such as expectation, learning, and conditioning.
