placebo
Inert control substance
A placebo is a treatment or substance with no therapeutic effect, given to patients who believe they are receiving actual medicine.
Placebos are essential in clinical trials, where they serve as controls against which real treatments are measured.
The placebo effect refers to genuine improvement in symptoms that occurs simply because patients believe they are being treated.
More broadly, placebo describes anything meant to placate or satisfy without providing real benefit: The tax cut was just a placebo for angry voters.
Belief about future outcomes
- suggestionIdea proposed for consideration
- conditioningLearned behavioral adaptation
- psychosomaticMind-induced bodily illness
- anticipationState of awaiting something
mind-body · perception · response · analgesia · improvement · sham · belief · neurochemical
Artificial and inferior substitute
- surrogateOne acting for another
- replacementWhat takes another's place
- stand-inTemporary human placeholder
- alternativeAnother available choice
imitation · simulacrum · dummy · facsimile · proxy · stopgap · makeshift · pseudo
Salt-water solution
- inertInactive, physically or chemically
- dummyLifelike substitute figure
- inactiveNot currently functioning
- lactoseDisaccharide in dairy
starch · capsule · injection · mock · harmless · nonmedicinal · vehicle
Fraudulent imitation
- fakeNot the real thing
- counterfeitFraudulent imitation
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
- blindingPainfully intense light
concealment · masking · ethics · disclosure
Arranged by chance
- double-blindNeither tester nor tested knows
- clinicalEmotionally detached, medically precise
- efficacyAbility to produce results
- blindingPainfully intense light
protocol · consent · volunteers · outcome · dosage · biostatistics · pharmacology · researchers
expectation
Belief about future outcomes
- suggestionIdea proposed for consideration
- conditioningLearned behavioral adaptation
- psychosomaticMind-induced bodily illness
anticipation · mind-body · perception · response · analgesia · improvement · sham · belief · neurochemical · endorphins
ersatz
Artificial and inferior substitute
- surrogateOne acting for another
- replacementWhat takes another's place
- stand-inTemporary human placeholder
alternative · imitation · simulacrum · dummy · facsimile · proxy · stopgap · makeshift · pseudo · token
saline
Salt-water solution
- inertInactive, physically or chemically
- dummyLifelike substitute figure
- inactiveNot currently functioning
lactose · starch · capsule · injection · mock · harmless · nonmedicinal · vehicle
sham
Fraudulent imitation
- fakeNot the real thing
- counterfeitFraudulent imitation
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
blinding · concealment · masking · ethics · disclosure
randomized
Arranged by chance
- double-blindNeither tester nor tested knows
- clinicalEmotionally detached, medically precise
- efficacyAbility to produce results
blinding · protocol · consent · volunteers · outcome · dosage · biostatistics · pharmacology · researchers · baseline
- drug researchdrug discovery, drug testing, drug screening, drug approval, clinical trials
- experimentsexperiment, experiments, test, tests, trials
- Latin Termsa priori, ab initio, ad hoc, ad lib, bona fide
- research methodsexperiment, hypothesis, deduction, experiments, induction
- scientific methodexperiment, theory, data, hypothesis, observation
- Experiment Termscontrol group, variable, sample size, blind test, double blind
placebomedication
Therapeutic substance for illness
treatment · remedy · drug · cure · active ingredient
- placebo effectHealing through expectation
- placebo groupTrial participants given inactive treatment
- placebo responseHealing without active medicine
- placebo buttonNon-functional control for comfort