Modern medicine, which is so powerful in treating acute disease, is missing nearly 80 percent of what contributes to healing for patients with complex, multi-factorial, chronic disease. Drugs do not heal these patients. The inherent healing capacity in each of us will produce most of their healing. But can providers and patients alike work together […]

As we’ve discussed the placebo response the past couple weeks—and how physicians can harness that power in their manner and behaviors—it is important to recognize the immense impact that cultural context can have on our healing process.  The following excerpt is from my book, How Healing Works, and provides my experience in understanding just how […]

Let’s be clear: an inert treatment cannot cause a biological response. Sugar pills and fake needles or sham surgeries do not heal. Healing comes from the meaning and the context in which these various treatments get deployed.  Thus, a “response” to a placebo alone, as the term is most commonly used, is impossible. The so-called […]

Few terms have been more misused and caused more confusion than placebo and the placebo effect. Placebo is most commonly defined as an inert substance such as a sugar pill or an injection of salt-water or a fake treatment used in medicine. But there is another definition of placebo that is more useful in practice: […]