In the early days of medicine, there were few drugs or treat…

In the early days of medicine, there were few drugs or treatments that gave any real physical benefit. 2As a result, patients were treated in a variety of strange, largely ineffective ways. Tor instance, Egyptian patients were medicated with “lizard’s blood, crocodile dung, the teeth of a swine, the hoof of an ass, rotten meat, and fly specks.” 4If the disease itself didn’t cause the patient to succumb, he or she had a good chance of dying instead from the treatment. 5Medical treatments of the Middle Ages were somewhat less lethal, but not much more effective. 6And as late as the eighteenth century, patients were subjected to bloodletting, freezing, and repeatedly induced vomiting to bring about a cure. 7Amazingly, people often seemed to get relief from such treatments. 8Physicians have, for centuries, been objects of great respect, and this was no less true when few remedies were actually effective. 9To what can one attribute the fair level of success that these treatments provided and the widespread faith in the effectiveness of physicians? 10The most likely answer is that these are examples of the tremendous power of the placebo effect—”any medical procedure that produces an effect in a patient because of its therapeutic intent and not its specific nature, whether chemical or physical.” “Even today, the role of placebos in curtailing pain and discomfort is substantial. l2Many patients who swallow useless substances or who undergo useless procedures find that, as a result, their symptoms disappear and their health improves.
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