All over the world, people say they are healed by things that turn out to be placebo. So it's easy to think that they must have been faking in the first place if all it took was a little sugar pill to assuage their ailments. But keep your scoffing at bay. That little white pill may be inducing some very real effects. We talk to placebo experts Fabrizio Benedetti and Tor Wager who tell us about the well-stocked pharmacy in our brains, just waiting to be unlocked.
Then pain expert, Dr. Daniel Carr, takes us to the WWII Battle of Anzio, where a puzzled young medic sees that the same bullet can create very different experiences of pain. And Daniel Moerman tells us how the color of a pill effects how well Italians sleep.
Perhaps the killer had made his mind that he would shoot anyone who looked.
Please bring "In the Dark" to the Washington, DC metro area !! We could SO SO use a break in ...
Look at the reflection on the glass. In the computer generated photos, the reflections are just too perfect. Look at ...
This is one of the most uplifting and heartfelt stories I have ever heard, it just proves that people stick ...
Comments [21]
Very interesting story, but I found it very difficult to get past Jad repeated every word right after the guest would say it. For absolutely no reason. Were they trying to fill space, or just assumed their listeners were deaf and/or semi retarded.
The part about the boy with the elephant skin was interesting.So was the part about the blue pills.👽
To learn more about the mechanism of placebos, and see videos that very much show that placebos can actually produce real results see: http://www.bestpanacea.com/
I just discovered Radio Lab thanks This American Life. Can anyone identify the music being played around the 42 mark of the podcast. It's mainly piano but had a very calming effect.
Last week I got shot in the face with a tear gas canister at the Qalandia Checkpoint in the West Bank. People would tell me, "I can't imagine how much that would hurt," but the truth of matter was, I wasn't in very much pain. Maybe because I was so pleased that my brain from the outset was obviously intact, maybe because so many people came to visit me in the hospital and wish me well, maybe it's because this was an act of injustice and there is a story to be told and a battle to be won. I'm sure a car accident would have been excruciating.
I love radiolab, but a lot of these links aren't working - or you need to be a subscriber to see them. :(
Very touched to hear an interview with A A Mason, whose article "A Psychoanalyst Looks at a Hypnotist: A Study of Folie À Deux" in the Psychoanalytic Quarterly of 1994 I consider essential reading.
I'm currently enrolled in the Marriage & Family Therapy graduate program at Saint Mary's University in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and this episode is an assignment from my Statistics teacher. I haven't listened to the episode yet, but the comments about it have piqued my interest. Thanks.
Just a quick question:
I am trying to figure out how to spell the name of the Shaman described in the beginning on the show. He's from the Kwakiutl tribe of British Columbia, his name sounds like "qe-so-lid", and he was studied by Franz Boas...
In answer to your comment Tom, we have been interested in this phenomena of self healing with placebos, and have been following the placebo debate over the last 2 years.
As conscious purveyors of placebos, we are concerned with the potential for the placebo effect to inspire self- healing. . . there is some evidence to suggest that ingesting a placebo *in the awareness that it is a placebo* may still gain some benefit.
There are some stories on our website www.universalplacebos.com.au which illustrate some different ways in which knowingly taking a placebo has been effective.
We are the original suppliers of placebos to the general public. We welcome your comments and feedback on your *placebo experiences*
How can one induce the "placebo effect" on oneself?
In other words how can one instill faith in oneself to treat oneself using the "placebo effect"?
If not, does one have to try to "trick" oneself into a "self-belief" mindset to produce the "placebo effect", and if possible how would one accomplish that? Tom.
If you want to hear something else amazing about the placebo effect, check out this story from Morning Edition on research by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer involving placebo and exercise.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17792517
GREAT!!!
I very much enjoy the sound effects and the way you play with the human voice. Please keep it up!
-Dixie Yid
I tried listening to "Placebo" for a few minutes but the annoying way it was edited, which was apparently supposed to be cute or entertaining, was so annoying I had to give up. PLEASE if you want people to listen to your programming, don't play silly games with it.
This was the best show I ever heard on
public radio. Thanks, and keep it up!
I agree with the previous commenters. Radio Lab is, by far, my favorite NPR program. I've posted some of my reflections on this portion of the program and that is available here:
http://dixieyid.blogspot.com/2007/06/why-there-is-no-pain-when-dying-al.html
-Dixie Yid
My favorite episode so far this season has been Sleep. But Placebo is a close second. Amazing stuff. Bravo WNYC!
The program on placebos was fascinating as a subject, but in addition, it was a model of effective teaching strategies -- the use of repetition, the variety of examples, the previewing of a subtopic, the various voices and music. I want my students to research a topic and model their class presentations on your style. Kudos!
I've been waiting for new episodes for too long! I can't express the excitement I felt when I first saw the release dates. My near feature will revolve around this.
Every Radio Lab episode from season one and two can be used as a benchmark for perfection, even beatuy, on radio shows. We can, no doubt, expect this measure to be surpassed in the coming weeks.
I love Radio Lab. I stumbled on it one day and can't wait to hear it again. It is one of the best shows on radio.
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