The Placebo Effect

Or the placebo "response" as one researcher calls is an interesting phenomenon. And apparently it was first noticed, at least in modern times, was during World War II, when a nurse, low on morphine, gave a soldier salt water and TOLD him that he was getting morphine but it relieved his agony. Mind you, Maimonides allowed, even though he didn't really believe it himself, people to do superstitious things when he treated them as a doctor because they believed it would help, so it's not a new concept. And if I am remembering my reading of his biography correctly, Galen (the famous Roman physician) also believed in allowing people to do things they think will help.

Here also is a response to the article, trying to differentiate two kinds of the placebo effect, the psychological part and the the accidental part. What I mean by accidental is the automatic repair that just happens.

Both links from Tyler