Person, heal thyself

I read a very interesting article in Wired News about the problem that pharmaceutical companies are having with placebos. It turns out that in double-blind tests of new drugs, far too many people are being benefited by the fake pills, which makes it difficult to measure the real drug’s efficacy. The article concludes that when people are given hope for a benefit, their brains start sending out the proper signals for the body’s own curative powers to kick in. Some physicians are using the placebo effect to help their patients by prescribing drugs that won’t have any direct curative effect on the complaint; it’s all in the bedside manner and the patient’s desire to get better.