One of my favourite subjects. I wrote a lot in the Patient Paradox about placebos. I don’t think we need placebos to get what have been called ‘placebo effects’. I’m so sad that doctors and patients have been pushed apart by the mechanistic, industrial approach of medicine in the last decade. Here’s hoping the next decade makes thinking and listening just as important as prescribing and xraying.

https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD003974.pub3

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0101822

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591

open label placebos

Beecher paper 

Cancer related fatigue

back pain

open label (no deception) study of placebo with IBS – note 3 weeks duration, small effect size, and method of recruitment

warm consultations  in GP and acupuncture 

nocebo effects by language use

Naloxone and placebos 

patient views  on open label placebos