Comment Need for honest placebo treatments. (Score 1) 507
What is needed is a big public information campaign on the benefits of placebo medicine. Official NHS sugar pills could be manufactured and advertised. There would be no reason to be dishonest. Simply list all the benefits that placebo medicine has been shown to have, but make it clear that this is all psychosomatic.
People would expect their placebo pills to be effective, and so they would be effective, and so people would continue to expect them to be effective. . If we could perpetuate the circular logic necessary for this to work it could be a very useful treatment. I think adverts with colorful dancing placebo pills would help.