"The other day I came across a fake news story on the Internet. It was a send-up of the pharmaceutical industry which featured a bunch of drug industry executives wringing their hands in despair: placebo pills, the fake news story reported, were getting stronger, what was a drug executive to do? This is a real news story about how placebos are getting stronger. Or anyway, it's a story about how our assumptions about placebos — the proverbial sugar pills given to patients during medical trials — are changing." - Jenny H from Bookmarklet

"But some recent studies are turning up something extremely unexpected about the placebo effect: our response to placebos seems to be changing over time. In fact the placebo effect, some researchers say, appears to be getting stronger." - Jenny H

"And why do these placebos — - the sugar pill, the fake operation — sometimes seem to make people better when there's absolutely nothing to them? Arthur Barsky, the director of psychiatric research at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, says one big reason is conditioning. "You've learned over the course of your life that going to the doctor, being examined, having him write out a prescription, waiting in line at the pharmacy, taking a pill, (these things) are generally followed by some benefit," Barsky says. "So you've kinda learned a pattern of reacting that seems to be pretty powerful." Therefore the mere fact of participating in these activities, Barsky says, often makes you feel better." - Jenny H