placebo effect

placebo effect

n.

A beneficial effect in a patient following a particular treatment that arises from the patient's expectations concerning the treatment rather than from the treatment itself.

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Placebo effect

Placebo effect occurs when a treatment or medication with no known therapeutic value (a placebo) is administered to a patient, and the patient's symptoms improve. The patient believes and expects that the treatment is going to work, so it does. The placebo effect is also a factor to some degree in clinically-effective therapies, and explains why patients respond better than others to treatment despite similar symptoms and illnesses.

Mentioned in: Biofeedback

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placebo effect,

a physical or emotional change occurring after a substance is taken or administered that is not the result of any special property of the substance. The change may be beneficial, reflecting the expectations of the patient and often those of the person giving the substance.

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placebo (plsēbō),

n a substance that resembles medicine superficially and is believed by the patient to be medicine but that has no intrinsic drug activity.

placebo effect,

n the real or imagined effect of a placebo, which may actually be the same effect ordinarily associated with the administration of a therapeutically active agent.

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placebo effect

Placebo response Psychiatry The effect that an inactive or inert substance has on a clinical condition. See Biofeedback, 'Halo' effect, Hawthorne effect, Placebo, Placebo response; Cf 'Nocebo.'.