Читать книгу Placebo: Mind over Matter in Modern Medicine - Dylan Evans - Страница 26

Tracing the limits of the placebo response is not easy. So far, we have seen that there is good evidence that it works for pain and some of the minor signs of injury, such as inflammation and trismus. There is also some evidence that placebos can alleviate depression and anxiety and cure ulcers. On the other hand, there is no real evidence that the placebo response can do anything to reverse cancer or cure schizophrenia. It would be interesting to know if there is any underlying logic to this. What is it that determines whether or not a medical condition responds to a placebo?

To answer this question, we must delve deeper into the underlying mechanisms of the placebo response. The placebo response is simply a rapid readjustment of the body’s own natural healing mechanisms to a surge of hope, and there are limits to what these mechanisms can do, even if fuelled with industrial-strength optimism. The placebo response is not magic; it works by natural mechanisms, and all such mechanisms have their limits. These mechanisms are the subject of the following chapter.