It may be that it is the act of applying the needles that is important. |
It's upside down research. We investigated whether a sham acupuncture device has a greater placebo effect than an inert pill. |
These findings suggest the medical ritual of a device can deliver an enhanced placebo effect beyond that of a placebo pill. There are many conditions in which ritual is irrelevant when compared with drugs, such as in treatment of a bacterial infection, but the other extreme may also be true: In some cases, the ritual may be the critical component. |
To some extent, placebos are about the effect of the human imagination. |