Heroes Not Zombies

Oh how little we understand about the so-called “placebo response”. Here’s an interesting study to throw into the mix. Apparently, the actual symptoms experienced by “placebo responders” in clinical trials accurately mimic the drugs being tested. The likely ill-effects reported by those who took a placebo in a trial are likely to be just like the ill-effects experienced by those who took the active drug.
What does this mean?
Well, if it’s truly a double-blinded study, how does the volunteer know what side-effects are likely? Some commentators have dismissed this finding as down to expectations but how did the volunteers know what to expect? I think this phenomenon needs to be studied rather more closely. If the volunteers, through the process of informed consent, are being made aware of the type of drug being tested and/or the possible effects it might have, then maybe this phenomenon will manifest itself more strongly than it would in a group of volunteers who really didn’t have a clue what they were (possibly) taking. If this were the case, then the expectation explanation might hold water. But if it turned out not to be the case, then how do we explain it? Morphogenetic fields? Collective unconsciousness?
I do wish the incredible rich variety of responses of the human being to therapeutic interventions was not reduced to such simplistic notions of a “placebo” (by which the researcher means, “nothing”).
Life is more complex than that.