Press and Media

Selected media coverage, 2006-2022

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2022

Read: "Why a placebo can work - even when you know it's fake"  National Geographic | Science

Read: "The Placebo Response - A Powerful Phenomenon"  Technology Networks

Read:  Media coverage of JAMA Open Network review on adverse events in the placebo arms of COVID-19 vaccine trials.

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2021

Read:   "Many doctors prescribe placebos.  But how well do they work?"  New York Times

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2020

Read:    "A placebo for pain relief - even when you know it's not real"  Wall Street Journal

Listen:  "How the placebo effect works" SYSK

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2019

Listen: "Placebo: can the mind cure you?"   Gimlet

Listen: “All the world’s a stage – including the doctor’s office”   Hidden Brain / NPR

Listen: ”Placebos may be a powerful tool that medicine has overlooked”  Morning Edition / NPR

Read:   "How I learned to stop worrying and love the placebo effect"  Pharmafocus

Listen: "The placebo paradox"  BBC Radio

Read:   "Patient care and enzyme release appear crucial to placebo effect"  Irish Times

Listen: "Placebo on prescription"  BBC Radio

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2018

Listen: "The counter-intuitive effect of open-label placebo"  BMJ podcasts

Read:   "Placebo's new power"  TIME Magazine

Read:   "Will future GPs prescribe placebo pills?"  Pharmacy News

Read:   "The 'honest' placebo: when drugs still work even though patients know they're fake"  New Atlas

Read:   "Getting benefits from placebos"  The Saturday Paper

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2017

Read:  "Mind over matter: How placebos can enhance health"  U.S. News & World Report

Read:  "Aus Getrickst"  Frankfurter Allegmeine Sonntagszeitung

Read:  "The weird power of the placebo effect, explained"  Vox

Read:  "A radical new hypothesis in medicine: give patients drugs they know don't work"  Vox

Read:  "I knew they were sugar pills but I felt fantastic"  The Guardian

Read:   "Just like medicine: 8 things you need to know about placebos"  Prevention Magazine

View:  Record-breaking metrics show impact of recent open-label article

Read:  "Why I take fake pills"   Smithsonian

Read:  "The power of the placebo effect"  Harvard Men's Health Watch

Read: "How the placebo effect may help you"  Harvard Women's Health Watch

Read: "How telling people about the side effects of a drug can make them sick"  Business Insider

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2016

Read: "'Honest placebos' show medicine can work without any actual medicine"  LA Times

Watch:  "Why do placebos work?"  CBS Sunday Morning (national news magazine)

Read:  "Placebos ease back pain, even if you know it's a sugar pill"  New York Times

Read:  "Placebos ease pain even when patients know they are fake"  London Times

Listen: "Is it still a placebo when it works and you know it is a placebo?"  NPR

Read:  "Why placebos really work: The latest science"  Wall Street Journal

Read:   "Placebos: Honest Fakery"  Nature

Watch: "Placebos helping IBS, migraine sufferers find relief"  CBS (Boston)

Watch:  "New research shows prescription placebo can improve several common medical conditions"  CBS

Read:  "Tap the placebo effect to unlock your body's healing powers"  New Scientist

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2015

Read: "Most Notable Medical Findings of 2015"  NewYorker.com

Listen: "Placebo Effects in Medicine"  (Interview)  New England Journal of Medicine

Listen:  "The Placebo Effect"  (Discussion)  WNPR

Read:  "Why are placebos getting more effective?"  BBC News 

Read:  "The placebo effect grows (but only in the US)"  The Boston Globe

View: "Placebo Effects Make Good Medicine Better"  TEDMED

Read: "Genes and the placebo effect; Are you easily pleased?"  The Economist

Read: "Is the placebo effect in your DNA"?"  The Atlantic

Read: "Genes may influence the placebo effect"  ScienceNews

Read: "The placebome: where genetics and the placebo effect meet" (e)Science News

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2014

Read:  "An 'expensive' placebo is more effective than a 'cheap' one, study shows".  The Washington Post

Read: "What if age is nothing but a mind-set?"  The New York Times

Read: "Outsmarting the placebo effect"  Science Magazine

Listen:  "Migraine study reveals the power of placebo"   NPR's Science Friday

Listen:  "Harnessing the placebo effect"  BBC World Service (1st segment)  

Read:  "Migraines- tablets found to perform better when a patient is told they are effective"  DailyMail

Read:  "Power of suggestion revealed in study of migraine drug" US News and World Report

Read:  "Half of a drug's power comes from thinking it will work"  Shots (NPR Health Blog)

Read:  "The placebo effect - a new study underscores its remarkable power"  Toronto Globe and Mail

Read:  "Expectations influence effects of medications and placebo"  Harvard Medical News

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2013

Watch:  "The Potential of Placebo"    A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 'Promise Story'

Watch:  "Are Placebo Effects Worth Anything?"  Harvard MED-Ed Talk by Ted Kaptchuk

Watch:  Highlights of June 2013 Forum on The Science of Placebo

Read:  "A Powerful Tool in the Doctor's Toolkit"  New York Times - Health/Science

Read:  "The Placebo Effect is Real.  Now Doctors Just Have to Work out How to Use it"  Fast Company

Watch: "Ted Kaptchuk - On the Placebo Effect"   Cambridge Nights 

Listen:  "Research Shows Placebos May Have Place In Everyday Treatments"   NPR - All Things Considered [Audio recording]

Read:  "Meditation Without God"  The Washington Post

Read:  "Worried Sick"  The Scientist

Read:  "When Pretending is the Remedy"  Scientific American Mind

Read:  "Forget the Placebo Effect: It's the 'Care Effect' that Matters"   WIRED Magazine

Read:  "The Placebo Phenomenon"   Harvard Magazine

Read:  "Beyond Belief"   Harvard Medicine

 

2012

Read:  "Big pharma looks to ancient China for new cures"  Lancet Oncology

Watch:  "Pursuing the Placebo Effect"  HMS Talks@Twelve    [Video recording]

Listen:  "The Nocebo effect: Is Ignorance Bliss?"   NPR  [audio recording]

Read:  "Patients' DNA may explain how placebo effect occurs, study finds"  Washington Post

Read:  "Placebo effect may depend on your genes"  Fox News.com 

Listen:  "One Scholar's Take on the Power of the Placebo" NPR's Science Friday  [Audio recording]

Read: "Genetics may help explain placebo effect, researchers say"  Bloomberg.com

Read:  "Placebo effect may depend on your genes"  LiveScience

Listen:  “The Future of Placebos in Medical Care” The Kojo Nnamdi Show (WAMU Radio)    [Audio recording]

Read:  "Placebo effect may be 'down to genes'"  BBC News Health

Listen:  "The Nocebo effect: Is Ignorance Bliss?"   NPR  [audio recording]

Listen:  "Understanding the placebo effect" MPR: Minnesota Public Radio   [Audio recording]

Read:  "Warning Patients of Drug Side Effects May Trigger Symptoms"  The Boston Globe  

Read:  "When a placebo might be the best 'drug'"  Consumer Reports

Read:  "Putting the Placebo Effect to Work: Rather than dismiss it, we should try to understand the placebo effect and harness it when we can"  Harvard Health Letter 

Read:  "One Scholar's Take on the Power of the Placebo" NPR's Science Friday [Audio recording]

Listen:  “The Future of Placebos in Medical Care” The Kojo Nnamdi Show (WAMU Radio) [Audio recording]

Read:  "Why Placebos Work Wonders" The Wall Street Journal

Listen:  "Understanding the placebo effect" MPR: Minnesota Public Radio. [Audio recording]

Watch:   "Pursuing the Placebo Effect"  HMS Talks@Twelve.   [Video recording]

 

2011

Read:  "The placebo debate: Is it unethical to prescribe them to patients?" The Atlantic

Listen:  "Demystifying the power of the placebo effect" WBUR: Boston's NPR Station  [Audio recording]

Read:  "The power of nothing" The New Yorker

Read:  "Asthma study shows placebo can help symptoms" WebMD.

Read:  "Meaningful placebos--Controlling the uncontrollable" New England Journal of Medicine  [Editorial accompanying article published in same issue]

Listen:  "Placebos and Medical 'Meaning'" New England Journal of Medicine's JournalWatch Podcast [Audio recording]

Read;  "The placebo effect, this time in asthma" Wall Street Journal

Read:  "When first we practice to deceive" Harvard Medicine

 

2010

Listen:  "All in the mind" BBC Radio 4  [Audio recording]

Listen:  "Fake pills can work, even if patients know it" NPR  [Audio recording]

Read:  "Patients in study who knew they were taking placebo still felt better" Boston Globe

Read:  "Perceptions: Positive spin adds to a placebo's impact" New York Times

Listen:  "Placebo" BBC World Today  [Audio recording]

Watch:  "Placebos work, even without deception" NBC Nightly News  [TV broadcast]

Watch:  "Sugar pills help, even when patients are aware of them" ABC News

Read:  "The nothing cure" Forbes

 

2008

Listen:  "Placebo" BBC Radio 4 [Audio recording]

Read:  "What is the placebo worth?" BMJ  [Editorial accompanying article published in same issue]

Watch:  "The power of placebo" Channel 7 Eyewitness News [TV broadcast]

 

2006

Read:  "Alternative placebos" Harvard Magazine

Read:  "Disentangling separate effects" BMJ [Editorial accompanying article published in same issue]

Read:  "Not all placebos are equal" JAMA. [Editorial accompanying article published in same issue]

Read:  "On pills and needles" Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin

Watch:  "The power of placebo" Channel 7 Eyewitness News [TV broadcast]