Ed Silverman on an OTC placebo pill marketed to parents and used to trick kids who probably don’t need medicine. Here’s the most interesting part:
Much of the power of the placebo effect seems to lie in the belief that it will work, and some experts question whether this expectation can be sustained if the person giving it knows it is a sham. Most clinical trials that have shown benefits from placebos are double blinded. Neither the recipient nor the giver knows that the pills are fake. “For this to work really well as placebo, you cannot let the parents know that it’s a sugar pill,” Brody tells the paper. “You have to lie to the parents, too, if you expect them to fool their kids.”6 months ago