You can stick that placebo right up your ...
While it’s fairly well known that placebos can make pretty powerful painkillers, a surprising experiment was conducted by Professor Donald Price from the University of Florida at Gainesville.
He took three groups of patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and in all three groups a balloon was blown up in the patients' rectums.
Yes, you read that right.
Before the balloon was blown, the patients in one group were given anesthetic, and their pain levels were much lower than the group that were given no anesthetic.
However, the third group were given a placebo - Vaseline - and told that they had been given a powerful painkiller.This group experienced the least amount of pain - even lower than those given the anesthetic.
So we now know that placebos are pretty powerful. It’s just that most other researchers test this without sticking things up people's bums.
Learned at: A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment (Indian School of Business/Coursera) Extra credit: Vase, L., Robinson, M. E., Verne, G. N., & Price, D. D. (2005). Increased placebo analgesia over time in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients is associated with desire and expectation but not endogenous opioid mechanisms. Pain, 115(3), 338-347.
For a review, see: Price, D. D., Finniss, D. G., & Benedetti, F. (2008). A comprehensive review of the placebo effect: recent advances and current thought. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 565-590.















