Placebo
A
placebo [3][4] is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient. Sometimes patients given a placebo treatment will have a perceived or actual improvement in a medical condition, a phenomenon commonly called the
placebo effect. Placebo effect consists of several different effects woven together, and the methods of placebo administration may be as important as the administration itself.[5] In medical research, placebos are given as control treatments and depend on the use of measured suggestion. Common placebos include inert tablets, vehicle infusions, sham surgery,[6] and other procedures based on false information.[1] However, placebos may also have positive effect on a patient's subjective experience who knows that the given treatment is without any active drug, as compared with a control group who knowingly did
not get a placebo.[7] Placebo effects are subject of recent scientific research aiming to understand underlying neurobiological mechanisms of action in pain relief, immunosupression, Parkinson disease and depression.