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iople & lifestyle

patients suffering from persistent coughs, insomnia. anxietv, phobias, migraine, asthma and depression. As a result there is quite a wide use of placebos in contemporary healthcare both as an alternative treatment and as a part of medical research (in con-trol groups). However, the still some-what mysterious naturę of placebo arouses auestions about the ethical side of its application. Some doctors ask whether it is honest to adminis-ter placebos, others wonder whether such a treatment may be guaranteed to generate safe and effective results. Whether the placebo effect fools the mind or reyeals its incredible power, it cannot be denied that this is an in-spiring mechanism of great potentiai. And it does not necessarily^ffave to be an alternative that makes doctors deceive patients - it turns out that some patients are perfectly satisfied to find out that such a treatment has been administered to them. As one of the participants in clinical trials for an antidepressant drug admitted. he was delighted to hear that his condition actually improved thanks to a placebo, because that showed him how powerful his mind was and how well he could tlo without any medicine whatsoever. And that seems to be the right way of looking at the placebo effect.    ■

Did you know?

Medicine is also familiar with the nocebo effect (from Latin ‘I shall harm’). It means that a patienfs negative attitude towards a therapy can trigger harmful side effects even if the treatment is neutral from the medical point of view. Such negative attitudes can be due to a lack of faith in the success of a therapy, the bad attitude of a doctor or even the inappropriate appearance of the medicine.

There are a few factors that have an influence on the effectiveness of placebos (http://en.wikipedia.org):

the colour and shape of a pili - bigger ones seem to be morę effective,

number - two pills seem to be better than one,

price - the morę expensive the treatment, the morę effective it seems,

brand - branded pills seem better than unbranded ones,

form - injections are preferable to pills,

doctor - the morę recognized the physician who recommends a placebo, the morę effective it seems,

doctor’s opinion - the encouraging words of a doctor about the placebo administered can greatly improve its effectiyeness.

to trigger - wywoływać side effects - skutki uboczne lack of faith - brak wiary inappropriate - nieodpowiedni appearance - wygląd factor -czynnik branded - markowy preferable - bardziej pożądany recognized - uznany physician - lekarz encouraging - krzepiący

Sources:

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/

neuro03/

webl/ckaminski.html

http://www.foodandhealing.com/article-

placeboeffect.htm

to sufferfrom - chorować na persistent cough - uporczywy kaszel insomnia - bezsenność anxiety - lęk

contemporary healthcare - współczesna opieka medyczna somewhat - nieco

to arouse questions - nasuwać pytania

application - zastosowanie

to generate - wywoływać

to fool - oszukiwać

to reveal - ujawniać

to deny - zaprzeczać

clinical trials - badania kliniczne

to admit - przyznać

to do well - dobrze sobie radzić

26 english matters I 16/2009

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