Questions on Placebos

[Guest guest]

After reading the recent train of discussion, I was curious as to the

opinions of the members of this group on the use of placebos in TCM;

should they be avoided? If they are effective, does it matter?

 

I had read that educated TCM doctors of old still continued to

perform shamanic rituals, despite " knowing better. " When questioned

on this, they explained something remarkable similar to the placebo

effect, saying that while they indeed offered no physical benefits,

the rituals put the patient in the correct frame of mind, or assisted

in curing psychologically, which made the treatment more effective.

TCM seems to make less of a distinction between psychological and

physical treatments than Western medicine does.

 

On the other hand, some placebos can have dangerous side effects, are

costly to produce, etc. Also, I would suspect that some patients

would be quite disillusioned if they discovered that large portions

of their treatments didn't really " do anything. "

 

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

Mbanu