Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS)

11/08/2018

Placebo research and PiPS take center stage in this Sunday New York Times Magazine article on November 11th: https://bit.ly/2Qu3YQv

07/24/2018

PiPS Retreat - 2018 - Wi******er, MA

02/16/2018

PiPS Retreat 2017 - at Kathryn Hall's

02/14/2018

12/19/2016

Read Ted Kaptchuk's persuasive opinion column in the December 19 LA Times about honest placebos:

Placebo effects have a bad reputation in the medical world. Physicians are trained to dismiss them as misleading — as in, “it’s only a placebo effect,” or “it’s no different from a placebo effect.” Placebo is a label that marks a drug as ineffective and disqualifies research subjects who respond to…

10/11/2016

The "cover story" on the October 9 CBS Sunday Morning (news magazine) featured familiar faces from PiPS. Watch it here:

Researchers says when patients believe in their medications, those medications just may work better - even if they’re not medications at all

09/07/2016

See what the Wall Street Journal says about the latest placebo research.
http://on.wsj.com/2cEfERE

As scientists find more ways placebos appear to bring real health benefits, new evidence suggests the fake drugs may cause changes in the body, not just the mind.

08/25/2016

Anyone who wants to make a financial contribution to help placebo research can do so by funding the Foundation for the Science of the Therapeutic Encounter (F-STE) through this CrowdRise site: No donation is too small and every one helps.
https://www.crowdrise.com/harnessing-placebo-effects/fundraiser/stefound

F-STE promotes patient-centered health care by funding scientific efforts to clinically harness placebo effects.

08/25/2016

Honest placebos could be ready for prime time according to the journal Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v535/n7611_supp/full/535S14a.html

02/25/2013

Check out our website for more info:

http://programinplacebostudies.org/

For many years, the placebo effect was considered to be no more than a nuisance variable that needed to be controlled in clinical trials. Only recently have researchers redefined it as the key to understanding the healing that arises from medical ritual, the context of treatment, the patient-provide...