Would you prefer a Placebo or a Pacebo Plus?
Monday, March 24th, 2008 6:55 PM
I’ve often wondered why certain talking and complementary therapies are dismissed by some scientists as ‘effective, but no more effective than a placebo’.
An article in today’s Guardian, inspired by the current BBC series ‘Alternative Therapies’, raises the issue of placebos once again.
I once heard Richard Bandler talking about his scheme to sell packets of placebos across the counter; and, as product development, he’d release an even more powerful version called Placebo Plus. Neither found their way into the shops - according to Richard, the US regulatory authorities wouldn’t allow such a thing. Now, his stories aren’t necessarily literally true but the question that’s coming up for me is why is selling placebos such a bad idea?
The evidence base for many therapies is insubstantial; in many cases, this is because the work hasn’t been done rather than because there is no evidence of effectiveness to be found. In some cases - for instance NLP - the work is being done (and scientific studies are bearing out a lot of NLP suppositions.)
Even when there’s no scientific evidence of effectiveness, does that invalidate the therapy? To me it’s very simple. If a patient, client (or however you wish to refer to them) receives a treatment and feels better - the therapy has been effective, hasn’t it? Maybe not a cure, maybe the feeling of ‘better’ doesn’t last forever, and yes maybe there’s a deeper underlying malaise that needs to be treated - but there’s nothing wrong with putting some ‘feeling better’ into the mix.
One of the advantages of NLP and hypnosis as effective talking therapies is that they achieve results quickly. Once Richard Bandler was asked in a seminar if the changes he got lasted forever. He answered that forever changes were possible but when a change is achieved quickly and easily there’s not problem with coming back for a top-up if necessary (and many NLP therapists, including myself, teach their clients how to renew their changes, just in case anyone is thinking top-ups are a great way of getting repeat fees). And there are some therapies that take years, large fees, and don’t get any changes.
Placebos are effective even when the client knows they are taking a placebo. So next time a therapy is dismissed as being no more effective than a placebo you could read that as meaning the therapy works. That’s got to be good news hasn’t it?
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