Placebo Effect Causes
More Symptoms
Than It Cures
Chester Twarog
From: "CHESTER TWAROG"
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Placebo Effect
Date: Friday, April 20, 2001 6:13 PM
Cliff,
Regarding the issue of "religious healing". I am reading Thieves, Decievers and Killers: Tales of Chemistry in Nature by William Agosta.
On page 160, he describes, "One widely noted Japanese study reported monumental effects on the allergic reactions of thirteen volunteers who were highly susceptible to poison ivy. An investigator rubbed one arm of each volunteer with a harmless green leaf, which he identified as poison ivy. He touched the volunteer's other arm with an authentic leaf of poison ivy, which he said was harmless. Despite the subject's known susceptibility, only two of them showed an allergic reaction to the really poisonous leaf. All thirteen subjects, however, developed a rash where they had been rubbed with the misidentified leaf that was actually harmless."
"The placebo effect manifests itself in many ways, revealing that a host of bodily reactions can be influenced by mental attitude and by what an individual believes should happen."
[A Discovery Channel program on "Stigmata" gave evidence that stigmata can be produced by the faithful by natural, physical or psychological effects similar to the placebo effects.]
"It is normal for 15 to 20 percent of patients receiving dummy pills in a clinical trial to show varying degrees of improvement. The number can ge greater than 35 or 40 percent."
Chet Twarog
Material by Cliff Walker (including unsigned editorial commentary) is copyright ©1995-2006 by Cliff Walker. Each submission is copyrighted by its writer, who retains control of the work except that by submitting it to Positive Atheism, permission has been granted to use the material or an edited version: (1) on the Positive Atheism web site; (2) in Positive Atheism Magazine; (3) in subsequent works controlled by Cliff Walker or Positive Atheism Magazine (including published or posted compilations). Excerpts not exceeding 500 words are allowed provided the proper copyright notice is affixed. Other use requires permission; Positive Atheism will work to protect the rights of all who submit their writings to us.