Placebos and Pain Relief

Dr. Rami Burstein, who works at Harvard University, has released a new study that says interesting things about pain relief and placebos.  He studied patients with migraines who consented to take placebos and/or Maxalt when they had migraines.

The patients were given pills labelled as placebo, possibly placebo or Maxalt, and Maxalt.  Those who took placebos labelled as such got some pain relief, while patients who took nothing got worse over the first couple of hours.  Those who took placebos labelled as Maxalt got more pain relief, in fact almost as much pain relief as Maxalt tablets labelled as placebos.  Of course, those who took Maxalt labelled Maxalt got the most pain relief.  This is consistent with the fact that Maxalt is considered clinically effective for migraines.

Why is this study important?  It shows that even when patients knowingly take a placebo, there is some demonstrable pain relief.  It also shows that, when administering a remedy you know to be effective, you will get better results if you endorse it to the patient unhesitatingly.

There is also a caution: drugs that don’t work can produce a measurable effect on the patient if the patient is aware of what is expected.  This caution particularly applies to many psychiatric drugs, particularly antidepressants and antipsychotics, that may produce so many side effects that determination of efficacy is fatally compromised.