Long TextExercise 65 of 83

Few phenomena in medicine are as fascinating - or as poorly understood - as the placebo effect. At its simplest, the placebo effect occurs when a patient experiences a genuine improvement in their condition after receiving a treatment that has no therapeutic value: a sugar pill, a saline injection, or even a sham…

• How was the placebo effect traditionally viewed by the medical profession?
• What have brain imaging studies demonstrated about placebos?