PLACEBOS can have exactly the same effect as an active drug, producing a
genuine chemical response in the body.
The placebo effect is well-known: if you tell someone that taking a certain
pill will make them better, it often does—even if it’s just a dummy.
People with Parkinson’s disease respond especially well to placebos.
Jon Stoessl and his colleagues at the University of British Columbia in
Vancouver gave six people with Parkinson’s either a placebo or the active drug
apomorphine—which stimulates the release of dopamine. Neither researchers
nor patients knew which was which at the time.
The placebo…
