Doctors Say They Prescribe Placebos - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

10/24/08

Doctors Say They Prescribe Placebos

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Next time you get a prescription, it could be more for your head than for what ails you. 

Researchers with the National Institutes of Health reviewed surveys filled out by nearly 700 general practitioners and rheumatologists. Half of the doctors said that they have prescribed placebo treatments, so-called sugar pills, not as physical treatments but as positive treatments for the expectations a patient might have when they go to the doctor for help.

In the survey, the doctors said the placebo practice was often effective and always harmless.

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