Understanding the Placebo Effect in Complementary Medicine
Theory, Practice and Research

David Peters (Edited by)

9780443060311, Elsevier Health Sciences

Paperback / softback, published 19 July 2001

200 pages, 5 ills.
27 x 18 x 1.4 cm, 0.4 kg

The placebo elicits more passionate debate, scepticism and personal belief than almostany other aspect of medicine. As yet there are no concrete answers - but many challenging observations and powerful effects occur daily in healthcare which need to be examined. This book will stimulate and inform every reader from the experienced practitioner to the new student who has ever asked, What is the placebo really, and why should it matter to me?Written in an accessible and engaging style with contributions from leading figures in healthcare, it tackles issues of the placebo effect in complementary medicine.

Part One: Theory.
Medical Anthropology Perspectives.
The Mind/Brain/Body Connection.
The Clinical Impact of Placebo Responses -- A Review.

Part Two: Clinical Implications.
Can We Optimise Non-Specific Effects? Transference Cures, Post-Modernism, Potencies and Placebos.
Transforming the Impossible Patient? Mind, Models and Methods, Therapeutic Touch and the Placebo Response.
Complementary Medicine Effectiveness Beyond the Placebo Response.

Part Three: Models for Research.
Unpicking the Tapestry, Research Into the Placebo Response.
Placebo Response and the Participative World View

Subject Areas: Complementary medicine [MX]