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Placebo Treatment Research

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The placebo effect, in my opinion is a positive psychological reaction from a patient taking a non-active drug that delivers a similar response as to a patient who takes an active drug. It is a well-known phenomenon in the area of psychology that some patients given a placebo treatment will have a perceived or actual improvement in a medical condition. The one major advantage of implementing placebos in treatment research is the potential for creating a larger and quality sample size. Most importantly, a large sample size is more representative of the population, limiting the influence of outliers or extreme observations. The one major disadvantage of implementing placebos in treatment research on a larger level would be the expense incurred in using more resources. However, the large sample size deepens the …show more content…

There has been knowledge of a placebo trail that dates back to 1784, the first trial was under the direction of Benjamin Franklin. Also, it has been said that during the Second World War, Henry Beecher a medic met with two hundred seriously injured soldiers, still able to talk. Beecher offered each soldier morphine and they refused, because they were simply happy to be alive. Afterwards Beecher remembered that before the war he experienced patients with similar injuries that begged for morphine and healthy soldiers complained about minor pain. He concluded that the difference had to do with emotions and expectations of the soldiers as to how they would heal. I believe the placebo effect produces positive results ultimately based on the patient’s individual beliefs, emotions and expectations during the time of their illness. Furthermore, positive thinking is a mental attitude that is usually referred to as optimism. It has been suggested that optimism could appear to be a hereditary trait because it is actually a manifestation of combined traits that are

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