Placebo effect is a very powerful treatment. It might as well be
magic. Worked for Schering-Plough for a few years. They were on
Stage III of their own viagra they were working on together with
Merck (who ended up buying them later but I was in Florida by
then). Anyway, it was very effective. So was placebo. So, they
couldn't continue because there was not enough statistical
difference between the two. There was some (I don't remember the
percentage) but it wasn't enough to be justifiable. I can't
condone prayer/hero worship WITHOUT using known medical
treatment. However, as a SUPPLEMENT to medical treatment, Yes.
_Whatever it takes_ that isn't a financial con operation or
dangerous that activates a powerful placebo effect in the
individual, I fully support. In short, a kiss on the head from
the Pope as a supplement to her treatment might have been just
enough to get her "over the hump" into full recovery. = It's a
mistake to consider, "just the placebo effect". There's no
"just" about it. It's quite powerful. The opposite is also true.
You can will yourself to death even with otherwise effective
medical treatment. That's also part of the placebo effect. Why
does it work that way? I don't know the mechanisms but I know
it's powerful and not a dismissible thing at all. But it's power
is what makes it dangerous in the hands of scam artists. Their
products *do* work: they activate placebo. They just don't work
in the way they say they do. That's the scam.
