Placebos work. Why?

For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if
patients didn’t know they were taking them. Not anymore: You can
give patients placebos, tell them they’re on sugar pills, and they
still might feel better. No one is sure how this works, but it
raises a question: Should doctors embrace placebos in mainstream
medicine? (First published in 2021.) Guests: Ted Kaptchuk,
professor at Harvard Medical School; Darwin Guevarra, professor of
psychology at Miami University; Luana Colloca, professor at the
University of Maryland School of Nursing For show transcripts, go
to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And
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