Placebos work. Why?

Unexplainable

Vox

Life Sciences, Science, Natural Sciences

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them. Not anymore: You can give patients placebos, tell them they’re on sugar pills, and they still might feel better. No one is sure how this works, but it raises a question: Should doctors embrace placebos in mainstream medicine? For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to sign up for our newsletter, view show transcripts, and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:13.0	This is unexplainable. I'm No, I'm Hassan Feld hanging out here with our reporter Brian Reznik.
1:18.0	Hey. And Brian, you got an unanswered scientific question you want to get into?
1:22.0	Yeah, you know I do. Okay. Okay. But before we get into it, I want to pose a scenario to you.
1:28.0	Hit me. I want you to imagine this.
1:33.0	Let's say you go to the doctor's office and you have this huge headache.
1:37.0	You're just complaining. You're nauseous. It's just nothing's going right for you.
1:41.0	And the doctor, she gives you a prescription for sugar pills like Falsibo's
	...

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