Priesthood blessings, faith healing, placebo's...
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:20 pm
Do these things work?
In the case of placebo's, these have been tested and have been shown to work. But why?
And if placebo's work well does that give a possible explanation for why people regale stories of miraculous results from Priesthood blessings?
In the case of placebo's, these have been tested and have been shown to work. But why?
And if placebo's work well does that give a possible explanation for why people regale stories of miraculous results from Priesthood blessings?
A placebo ( /pləˈsiboʊ/; Latin: I shall please[2]) is a sham or simulated medical intervention. Sometimes patients given a placebo treatment will have a perceived or actual improvement in a medical condition, a phenomenon commonly called the placebo effect.
In medical research, placebos are given as control treatments and depend on the use of measured deception. Common placebos are inert tablets, sham surgery,[3] and other procedures based on false information.[1] However, placebos can also have a surprisingly positive effect on a patient who knows that the given treatment is without any active drug, as compared with a control group who knowingly did not get a placebo.[4]
In one common placebo procedure, however, a patient is given an inert pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition; and this belief may produce a subjective perception of a therapeutic effect, causing the patient to feel their condition has improved — or an actual improvement in their condition. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect.