What Placebos Teach Us about Health and Care
What Placebos Teach Us about Health and Care
Placebo effects raise some fundamental questions concerning the nature of clinical and medical research. This Element begins with an overview of the different roles placebos play, followed by a survey of significant studies and dominant views about placebo mechanisms. It then critically examines the concept of placebo and offers a new definition that avoids the pitfalls of other attempts. The main philosophical lesson is that background medical theories provide the ontology for clinical and medical research. Because these theories often contain incoherent and arbitrary classifications, the concept of placebo inherits the same messiness. The Element concludes by highlighting some impending challenges for placebo studies.
Reviews & endorsements
'As knowledge of placebo effects increases, Ho's timely new [Element] has given us just what the doctor ordered: an insightful and graceful review of clinical and mechanistic research concerning placebo in the context a broad philosophical perspective that is enlightening. For anyone interested in placebo this volume is a critical read.' Ted Kaptchuk, Director, Harvard's Program in Placebo Studies and Professor of Medicine and Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Product details
December 2023Hardback
9781009454452
75 pages
235 × 159 × 11 mm
0.27kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. History and conceptual landscape
- 2. A survey of Placebo studies
- 3. Mechanisms of Placebo effects
- 4. Philosophical implications of Placebos: from the elusiveness of Placebos to the challenge of authenticity
- 5. The near future of Placebo research
- References.
