Ben Goldacre on Placebos

I thought this was a very interesting short talk from Dr Ben Goldacre on the placebo effect.



The thing that surprised me the most was when he described how even animals feel the benefit from the placebo effect. I'd love to see the proof of that because it sounds absolutely bonkers.

I particularly like the way that he describes how placebos work but, because it's unethical to lie to patients we should not use them - but we should use the fact that they work in order to make pre-existing, proven treatments even more effective.

(h/t Neil)