Blog: Debunking the magical power of the placebo effect for chronic pain (yet again) [James Coyne]

Andy · Oct 11, 2018

The opioid crisis and growing awareness of the dangers of addiction to pain medication are prompting renewed calls for the use of pill placebos in place of active treatments, backed by familiar claims about the magical powers of the placebo.

Witness the press release for a recent study in the prestigious Nature Communications: “ Sugar pills relieve pain for chronic pain patients“.

Here are some excerpts:

“Their brain is already tuned to respond,” said senior study author A. Vania Apkarian, professor of physiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “They have the appropriate psychology and biology that puts them in a cognitive state that as soon as you say, ‘this may make your pain better,’ their pain gets better.”

There’s no need to fool the patient, Apkarian said.

“You can tell them, ‘I’m giving you a drug that has no physiological effect but your brain will respond to it,'” he said. “You don’t need to hide it. There is a biology behind the placebo response.”

And:

The individuals whose pain decreased as a result of the sugar pill had a similar brain anatomy and psychological traits. The right side of their emotional brain was larger than the left, and they had a larger cortical sensory area than people who were not responsive to the placebo. The chronic pain placebo responders also were emotionally self-aware, sensitive to painful situations and mindful of their environment.
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https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/de...he-placebo-effect-for-chronic-pain-yet-again/

Wonko · Oct 11, 2018

I'm currently hopeful of a placebo sugar pill to allow me to get off the nasty pills (and remove the side effects from them) which I currently have to take to control my diabetes.

inox · Oct 11, 2018

Not read the whole thing yet, but these bits makes me looking foreward to do so

None of these statements in the press release are tied to the actual findings of the study. Some of these statements are actually contradicted by the findings. But the press release was quickly echoed in the media around the world, with new exaggerations and distortions.
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I am going to be hard on this particular article because it is an example of misleading claims about inert pill placebos that are being widely disseminated to lay and professional audiences.

Because the article is published in a prestigious Nature Publishing Group journal and draws upon the mysteries of brain science, skeptics may be intimidated away from attempting to uncover obvious flaws. Would-be critics may feel discomfort with the notion that inert pill placebos could replace active treatments for chronic pain, but they may feel they lack the necessary expertise to criticize these kinds of arguments.

However, I’m going to be pointing to some easily identified, basic problems that do not require a thorough background in neuroscience to expose. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, “You don’t need to be a neuroscientist to know…”
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(line breaks inserted by me)

Mithriel · Oct 11, 2018

I wish, I wish I just had to believe something for the pain to go away. I take painkillers, I use distraction, I don't dwell on it, but there it is in the background, all the time.

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Blog: Debunking the magical power of the placebo effect for chronic pain (yet again) [James Coyne]

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Blog: Debunking the magical power of the placebo effect for chronic pain (yet again) [James Coyne]

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