What is a placebo?

Send us a textWhat is a placebo? You may already be thinking something like: A placebo is an imitation, fake, sham, decoy, or trick treatment that we give to people in studies to see if the treatment under investigation is any better or worse. Placebos are supposed to be both benign and inert, meaning they should neither harm nor help a patient beyond the patient feeling or reporting that they are better or worse after they received some kind of treatment. It seems strange t...

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A resource for psychiatrists and other medical or behavioral health professionals interested in exploring the neuroscientific basis of psychiatric disorders, psychopharmacology, neuromodulation, and other psychiatric interventions, as well as discussions of pseudoscience, Bayesian reasoning, ethics, the history of psychiatry, and human psychology in general.This podcast is not medical advice.  It strives to be science communication.  Dr. O'Leary is a skeptical thinker who often questions what we think we know.  He hopes to open more conversations about what we don't know we don't know.Find transcripts with show-notes and references on each episodes dedicated page at psydactic.buzzsprout.com.You can leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com.The visual companions, when available, can be found at https://youtube.com/@PsyDactic.