The book is well worth reading for those with an interest in the subject. It is thought provoking and in many respects extraordinary.
Fact: Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies - E. Ernst
This book, drawing on contributions from fields as diverse as cultural anthropology, religion, pharmacology and molecular biology, reviews the roles of placebos in history and discusses the difficulties in making sense of them. At a time when quackery costs the nation an estimated $30 billion a year, such research couldn’t be more timely.
Chicago Tribune - Peter Gorner
To understand the placebo effect is to grasp simultaneously the success and the failure of medicine. This yin-yang comes through clearly in The Placebo Effect , which is based on the proceedings of a conference at Harvard University in late 1994. The speakers and discussants were all experts. Their charge at the conference, according to one participant, was ‘to create some destabilization of current thinking with respect to placebo effects.’ In this the text succeeds admirably… The power and the prevalence of placebo effects should interest any healer, and so should this book. From it one will learn that ultimately the placebo effect cannot be understood, for once we discover some detail of its mechanism, that knowledge will no longer be considered a placebo effect.
This book is based on a conference at Harvard University in December 1994, sponsored by the Harvard Mind, Brain, Behavior Interfaculty Initiative. It brought under one roof some of the leading authorities on placebo and placebo effects, giving many of the chapters the unique quality of coming straight from the ‘the horse’s mouth.’ The placebo has become a familiar concept among biomedical researchers and practitioners since it became a prerequisite in randomized, controlled trials in the middle of this century. Yet the state of knowledge about the placebo effect in phenomenological terms…and as a neurobiologic construct…is still inadequate… This book highlights and aims at interdisciplinary dialogue… It will make fascinating reading for clinicians, neurobiologists, and students, as well as for philosophers and ethicists. More specifically, the book should be considered by those involved in all aspects of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics.
New England Journal of Medicine - Gideon Koren
This book sets out to show that the placebo effect is a ‘real’ entity in its own right, one that has much to teach us about how symbols, settings, and human relationships literally get under our skin.
The concluding section [of The Placebo Effect ] is almost too rich with ideas to be digested in a single session… As Anne Harrington states in her well-written introduction, the conference [on which The Placebo Effect was based] ended with no consensus, but it had given scientists and humanists the opportunity ‘to stretch in ways that promised to leave none of the parties involved in the undertaking unchanged.’ [The Placebo Effect ] may offer [its] readers a similar opportunity.
The Placebo Effect …brings together some of the leading authorities to describe the state of the field, as it appears from their several disciplinary perspectives, and to outline future directions for research.
Medical History - David Harley
The book is well worth reading for those with an interest in the subject. It is thought provoking and in many respects extraordinary.
Fact: Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
The Placebo Effect ...brings together some of the leading authorities to describe the state of the field, as it appears from their several disciplinary perspectives, and to outline future directions for research.
The concluding section [of The Placebo Effect ] is almost too rich with ideas to be digested in a single session...As Anne Harrington states in her well-written introduction, the conference [on which The Placebo Effect was based] ended with no consensus, but it had given scientists and humanists the opportunity "to stretch in ways that promised to leave none of the parties involved in the undertaking unchanged." [The Placebo Effect ] may offer [its] readers a similar opportunity.
The Placebo Effect helps to explain why medicine appears to be some way off relinquishing the certainty of faith for the uncertainty of science...This edited collection of reviews...repays reading for the nuggets of insight it gives into health care and its as yet not-so scientific underpinnings.
This book is based on a conference at Harvard University in December 1994, sponsored by the Harvard Mind, Brain, Behavior Interfaculty Initiative. It brought under one roof some of the leading authorities on placebo and placebo effects, giving many of the chapters the unique quality of coming straight from the "the horse's mouth." The placebo has become a familiar concept among biomedical researchers and practitioners since it became a prerequisite in randomized, controlled trials in the middle of this century. Yet the state of knowledge about the placebo effect in phenomenological terms...and as a neurobiologic construct...is still inadequate...This book highlights and aims at interdisciplinary dialogue...It will make fascinating reading for clinicians, neurobiologists, and students, as well as for philosophers and ethicists. More specifically, the book should be considered by those involved in all aspects of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics.
New England Journal of Medicine
This book, drawing on contributions from fields as diverse as cultural anthropology, religion, pharmacology and molecular biology, reviews the roles of placebos in history and discusses the difficulties in making sense of them. At a time when quackery costs the nation an estimated $30 billion a year, such research couldn't be more timely.
The book is well worth reading for those with an interest in the subject. It is thought provoking and in many respects extraordinary.
Fact: Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
4 Stars! from Doody
This splendid small book is the product of a 1994 conference on the placebo that was chaired by the editor, who is also Professor of the History of Science at Harvard. It contains a fine introduction, nine well-edited chapters by leaders in the field, and a transcript of dialogue that occurred among the contributors and other participants at the conference. The book provides a broadly focused introduction to, and historical review of, the placebo in the practice of medicine. All practitioners and students in health-related fields should find something to intrigue them, and possibly amaze them, in this very useful book. The editor points out that ""Placebo is Latin for 'I shall please' and is the opening phrase of the Catholic vespers for the dead, from which the medical term, ironically enough, is derived."" She remarks that ""Placebos are the ghosts that haunt our house of biomedical objectivity...."" The late Arthur Shapiro and his wife Elaine provocatively assert that, ""The panorama of treatment since antiquity provides ample support for the conviction that, until recently, the history of medical treatment is essentially the history of the placebo effect."" The chapters that follow review the placebo response in specific areas of study (i.e., pain reduction), conditioning, and the influence of cultural symbols on illness and physical suffering. This is a marvelously informative and interesting book that is likely to serve as the standard work on the placebo effect for many years.
Thirteen contributors from the medical and social sciences address the provocative issue of whether the placebo effect (and the related nocebo negative expectation involved, e.g. in voodoo death) is much ado about nothing. Aspects of the phenomenon examined are: clinical reflections, new research agenda, placebo analgesia, and the role of biocultural conditioning. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Reviewer: Elizabeth C. Penick, PhD, ABPP (University of Kansas School of Medicine)Description: This splendid small book is the product of a 1994 conference on the placebo that was chaired by the editor, who is also Professor of the History of Science at Harvard. It contains a fine introduction, nine well-edited chapters by leaders in the field, and a transcript of dialogue that occurred among the contributors and other participants at the conference. Purpose: The book provides a broadly focused introduction to, and historical review of, the placebo in the practice of medicine. Audience: All practitioners and students in health-related fields should find something to intrigue them, and possibly amaze them, in this very useful book. Features: The editor points out that "Placebo is Latin for 'I shall please' and is the opening phrase of the Catholic vespers for the dead, from which the medical term, ironically enough, is derived." She remarks that "Placebos are the ghosts that haunt our house of biomedical objectivity...." The late Arthur Shapiro and his wife Elaine provocatively assert that, "The panorama of treatment since antiquity provides ample support for the conviction that, until recently, the history of medical treatment is essentially the history of the placebo effect." The chapters that follow review the placebo response in specific areas of study (i.e., pain reduction), conditioning, and the influence of cultural symbols on illness and physical suffering. Assessment: This is a marvelously informative and interesting book that is likely to serve as the standard work on the placebo effect for many years.
