Placebo pills may help us but they don’t have the same effect as medicine. In response to the earlier article on the high rate of prescription of placebos in Germany and Bavaria, here’s a response that seeks to temper the hype:
Placebo is used in medicine in two quite distinct ways. The first, the one we are all familiar with, is the “sugar” pill given by doctors to patients to instil hope. These keep them happy while time and nature get on with healing. As reported, it is “a question of trust”.