tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28103455.post6716193676545060434..comments2024-03-09T05:53:59.542-05:00Comments on Oz and Ends: Contains No Chemical DrugsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28103455.post-76262676074351787902008-06-03T14:13:00.000-05:002008-06-03T14:13:00.000-05:00First of all, I didn't write that deceiving childr...First of all, I didn't write that deceiving children or others about a placebo "shouldn't occur." I wrote that any such deception was problematic, yet also that placebos' effects depend on their being thought effective. <BR/><BR/>If parents do decide to fool children with pills, I think they might as well offer chewable vitamins than something which requires a special order and has little nutritive value.<BR/><BR/>Warts usually disappear spontaneously, as your pediatrician no doubt knew. Because they're so visible and bothersome, humans have long tried to get rid of them more quickly. But most of the easy cures have been about as effective as Huck Finn's plan to whirl a dead cat in a graveyard. The latest, unavailable until recent decades, is duct tape. Most of the hard cures probably aren't worth the trouble.<BR/><BR/>Because warts so often go away spontaneously, to be effective a placebo has to be not only consistently better than other treatments, but also consistently better than <I>nothing</I>. I don't know of a study showing that. <BR/><BR/>Of course, if what families want isn't just the departure of the wart but the belief that they're doing something about the problem, then a placebo might be effective. And it carries less risk of harm than anything else, including the dead cat in the graveyard.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28103455.post-50505315150906840712008-05-29T12:15:00.000-05:002008-05-29T12:15:00.000-05:00I have to disagree with you that the use of a plac...I have to disagree with you that the use of a placebo is deception that shouldn't occur. Sometimes the placebo effect is very real and useful: studies have shown that under certain circumstances, the use of a placebo can be as effective as a prescription drug for things as serious as depression or as minor as a wart. Apparently the body has, in many cases, the capacity to heal itself if nudged--and if the mind is tricked into believing that the nudge (the false drug) is doing something to help the condition, the body does the rest.<BR/><BR/>A small anecdote: when my youngest was 4 years old, she developed a large wart on one of her toes. Our pediatrician explained to her that if she thought about the wart every day and told it to disappear, it would go away. The following day we were at a book fair were a mother was dressed up as Strega Nona, and my daughter who knew the story, went up to her and asked her to cure her wart. Keeping to her role, Strega Nona told her that she needed to think loving thoughts, and it would disappear if she thought hard enough about it. Within a week it was gone.<BR/><BR/>I telephoned our pediatrician to tell her about this "cure". She reported that there have been studies that, with young enough children, telling them that you can cure a wart with magic works--faster than any chemical, freezing or other known cure.<BR/><BR/>I realize we have a strong regard for the truth. But, in limited circumstances, a deception can both be helpful and become true. It is perhaps a dangerous proposition, especially in our current political world, but in medicine, it's worth exploring.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com