Placebo effect

The placebo effect is a powerful medicine — or at least patients seem to think so.

Placebos are “dummy pills” without any active ingredients that are often given during clinical trials to test new drugs.

A Harvard study of asthma patients found placebo inhalers had no effect on lung function.

But, when it came to analyzing how well patients thought the drugs relieved their symptoms, they said the placebos were just as effective as the real medications.