Sugar coating it

Could harnessing the placebo effect make existing drugs and therapies more effective in treating pain and chronic conditions?

- NIKI BEZZANT

Keith Petrie sets his health psychology students a challenge each year: create your own sham treatment, snake oil or pseudo-scientific therapy something you could theoretically charge big bucks for.

The University of Auckland professor sets the task after teaching his students about the placebo effect, the intriguing response that's baked into every drug or treatment study: when patients feel better even though they've been given a treatment that's not active, such as a sugar pill or saline solution. Placebo arms are a standard feature of drug studies; they're there to help determine the effectiveness or otherwise of the treatment being tested. There's always some degree of placebo response in drug studies. Do better than the placebo with your treatment, the thinking goes, and you're on to a winner.

Petrie's students tend to come up with creative ideas for their placebos along similar lines, he says. "They're often some sort of machine that does powerful things; or they're showing models to people of all the great benefits they'll get. And, of course, there's always megavitamin nutritional solutions for this and that."

It's a lighthearted exercise. But the placebo effect is the subject of serious research. Experts now believe it's more than just something to factor in and allow for in medical research. The placebo has potential to improve existing treatments and medications, and to teach us more about the mind-body connection when it comes to health and healing.