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Attempting to define placebos and their effects: A keywords approach

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Abstract

A Keywords approach is used to explore how the placebo, placebo effect and related concepts have been defined to date. The selected terms have become convenient receptacles for competing and fragmented views on the capacity of the mind as a source of medical treatment. The term placebo usually contains earlier and pejorative views of the patient and treatment effect following placebo administration, whereas definitions for placebo effect are more nuanced and provocative conceptualizations about any ‘real’ treatment outcomes based in psychological or anthropological influences, rather than strict materialist causes. The concepts have also become fraught with interdisciplinary sparring over mind–body dualism, the passive versus active role of the patient and the placebo as a sham versus effective treatment approach.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Ayo Wahlberg for his invaluable feedback on this manuscript, including his suggested improvements on the anthropological perspective.

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Huculak, S. Attempting to define placebos and their effects: A keywords approach. BioSocieties 8, 164–180 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/biosoc.2013.4

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