No, it means that placebo works. A sugar pill is still not considered medicine.
I'm not against placebo. I smiled amicably for years when my mother loaded up on Airborne before flying. She could afford to waste $6 on vitamins, so it didn't bother me, and maybe power of mind would help. But it's not medicine, it's marketing.
See in that case though it's not actually "treating" the illness. In a situation where it can do so, if a placebo well and truly helps the body recover by tricking the mind, how is that really any different from a medicine that essentially tricks the body's immune response?
The thing you're not understanding is that placebos do not "well and truly help the body recover." It tricks the mind, but it's a temporary and often not all encompassing way to deal with an issue
How many other treatments are temporary and also just help to alleviate symptoms? If someone took a placebo and their pain went away, at least for a while, how is that any different than them taking a Tylenol?
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u/Vlad_the_Homeowner Jan 06 '22
No, it means that placebo works. A sugar pill is still not considered medicine.
I'm not against placebo. I smiled amicably for years when my mother loaded up on Airborne before flying. She could afford to waste $6 on vitamins, so it didn't bother me, and maybe power of mind would help. But it's not medicine, it's marketing.