Essays on Placebo Effect

Questions & Answers

Questions and Answers

Every theory must be proved by results of scientific studies. If the theory cannot be confirmed by scientific methods this theory is likely to be wrong. Learning styles theory was not proved by results of any researchers that are why scientist believes that the theory is only a one more psychological myth. Riener & Willingham (2010) indicate that proponents of the idea of learning styles believe that if a teacher knows about learning styles of his/her students the teacher will be able to teach students effectively independently of the content of learning materials. According to the theory ...

Misconception Diary: Brain Myths

I feel that there are so many things about this lecture that showed me that I have many misconceptions about the brain. I am not sure if I can really just pick one misconception about the brain. One of these misconceptions would be the brain may need to grow or get rid of synaptic connections between the neurons. I would never think that the brain would need to lose these connections in order to learn something. I always imagined that the brain would get bigger and stronger with an intelligent person. I don’t know why I have this ...

Question 1: Identify and explain the placebo effect’s function in each step of the scientific method: observation, hypothesis, experimentation, verification.

- Placebo effect can be defined as any effect that cannot be attributed to an actual pharmaceutical drug. It is a psychobiological condition occurring in the patient’s brain upon the administration of an inert substance, coupled with verbal suggestions of clinical importance. The therapeutic importance of the placebo effect is universally recommended and accounting for it has become a standard in clinical drug trials. This is done to discern pharmaceutical effects from the placebo effects and placebo effects ...

An investigation into whether polypharmacy in hospice and palliative care patient population can be reduced, thereby affecting quality of life

Introduction Polypharmacy simply refers to the use of several medications by patients. Sometime patients are prescribed several medications than what is clinically allowed or a patient may be given too many pills of drugs despite being clinically indicated. In addition, sometimes the drugs given to patients may not be evidence based but their use is only based on the speculations. Polypharmacy has been described to have a lot adverse effect on patients despite the patients being on medication. Instead of improving the quality of life, polypharmacy may sometimes prove to be adverse on patients. Common consequences of polypharmacy include negative ...

Acupuncture is considered one of the ancient traditional Chinese medical practices, whose age cannot be precisely defined, but is generally believed to be approximately 2000 years. As medical experts of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services define it, acupuncture is a technique that involves stimulation of the points in the body, often by inserting thin needles into it (Lao et al., 2014). It is believed that every human has the energy of life called qi, and this energy flows in the human body through the meridians that are the streams ...

Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines

Placebos and Ethics Introduction The only thing second in the medical field to successfully treating a patient is doing it ethically. Ethics are supposed to be held in the highest degree by doctors and nurses in order for patients to feel safe and optimistic about the treatment they receive. Treatments, under the Hippocratic Oath and several moral and ethical maxims must be provided in a safe, ethical manner in order for them to be considered justified practices. Examples include delivering chemotherapy to cancer patients, and antibiotics to patients with viruses. Other instances may involve obtaining conscientious permission from the ...

The practices of shamanism date back at least as far as the Neolithic ages and possibly the latter parts of the Paleolithic ages of mankind's prehistory. Here, shamanism is defined as a set of ritualistic practices that are used in conjunction with an understanding of a larger framework of the cosmos to engage in ritualistic practices that were goal-directed. This practice was the role of the tribal shaman who entered altered states of consciousness to heal a sick person, among its many other applications. Contrary to popular belief, the practice of ritualistic shamanism directly led to the nearly-overnight birth of modern, systematized ...

Vitamin C helps manage stress

Vitamin C helps manage stress

Introduction

Stress is part of life but an ongoing stress can take a toll on the body. It can lead to digestive problems, weight gain, poor memory, fatigue, moodiness, muscle pain, and headaches. High levels of stress can increase the risk of heart attack and diabetes. Reducing stress provides a good way of staying healthy, increasing productivity and enjoying life more. When the stressed person lacks enough instruments and emotional support, they must device more practical ways of reducing stress. The good news, however, is that consuming certain foods and nutrients, at the right amount and time, ...

Health Education 101, Professor, 2013

Definition of Terms 2 Review of Literature 3 Methods 4 Results 5 Discussion 6 Conclusion 7

Works Cited 8

Definition of Terms exercise – mental exertion for the purpose of improving one’s health . mind-set – an attitude or mood . placebo – a substance with no pharmacological effect but is administered as a control in an experiment . work – exertion to accomplish something . obesity – the condition of being severely overweight . Review of Literature It is well documented that there are health benefits to exercising for at least thirty minutes three times each week. A consistent ...

Lakoff, A. (2002). The Mousetrap: Managing the Placebo Effect in Antidepressant Trials [Summary]

The article by Andrew Lakoff titled “The Mousetrap: Managing the Placebo Effect in Antidepressant Trials” strives to delineate some of the most disturbing facets in the development of antidepressants. The Author acknowledges that the development of drug is a risky and uncertain practice and is often characterized by placebo effects which are always unpredictable and at times not manageable. Since most of the attempts by the drug developers to determine effective of a drug always prove futile, the drug developers always resort to certain strategies to build confidence about the effectiveness of their antidepressant drugs. One of the strategies is the ...

According to Merck (2012), a placebo is a substance that is made to resemble a drug but does not contain an active ingredient like the drug. It is, in essence, a sugar pill, and it does not have any compounds with which to treat a condition or disease. Sometimes, though, if it is offered to a patient with a positive indication of its potential help, the patient will experience benefits – this is known as the “placebo effect.” This is true, too, with many alternative therapies that lack scientific evidence of their effectiveness.

While some doctors feel that as long as the patient views a placebo treatment as ...