The powerful placebo

One article on PainSci cites Beecher 1955: Placebo Power Hype

PainSci notes on Beecher 1955:

This is the 1955 paper that launched the Legend of Placebo. Dr. Henry Beecher reported that 35% of 1000 patients were “satisfactorily” treated with a placebo alone. His conclusion catapulted placebo to lasting fame… and wasn't really questioned for a long time.

Kienle and Kiene published a strong criticism of Beecher's findings in 1996, but no one took much notice. Much more prominently, Hróbjartsson and Gøtzsche reported in 2001 in the New England Journal of Medicine that they “found little evidence in general that placebos had powerful clinical effects” and concluded that there is “no justification for the use of placebos” outside clinical trials.

The topic has been hotly debated ever since, but few experts still believe that placebo is “powerful.”

For much more about Beecher and how this all started, see The Legend of the Wartime Placebo

related content

• “The powerful placebo effect: fact or fiction?,” Kienle et al, J Clin Epidemiol, 1997.
• “Is the placebo powerless? An analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment,” Hróbjartsson et al, New England Journal of Medicine, 2001.
• “Is the placebo powerless? Update of a systematic review with 52 new randomized trials comparing placebo with no treatment,” Hróbjartsson et al, J Intern Med, 2004.
• “The Legend of the Wartime Placebo,” Jonathan Jarry, www.mcgill.ca.

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