Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 8 July 1960:
Vol. 132. no. 3419, pp. 91 - 92
DOI: 10.1126/science.132.3419.91
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Increased Stress and Effectiveness of Placebos and "Active" Drugs

Henry K. Beecher 1

1 Harvard Medical School, Department of Anaesthesia, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

Evidence is presented to indicate that placebos are far more effective in producing carefully defined relief of pathological pain than they are in the case of experimental pain. This is construed as further support for the view that placebos are more effective when stress is great than they are when stress is not so great. A similar situation holds for morphine. Certain drugs are effective in relieving visceral sensations only if an essential psychological state is present. This is, in effect, a new principle of drug action.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Psyllium Therapy in the Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Double-Blind Trial.
G. F. LONGSTRETH, D. D. FOX, L. YOUKELES, A. B. FORSYTHE, and D. A. WOLOCHOW (1981)
Ann Intern Med 95, 53-56
   Abstract »    PDF »
Knowledge and Use of Placebos by House Officers and Nurses.
J. S. GOODWIN, J. M. GOODWIN, and A. V. VOGEL (1979)
Ann Intern Med 91, 106-110
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Placebo Effect: A Neglected Asset in the Care of Patients.
H. Benson and M. D. Epstein (1975)
JAMA 232, 1225-1227
   Abstract »    PDF »
Subjective Change With Medical Student Therapists: II.Some Determinants of Change in Psychoneurotic Outpatients.
E.H. Uhlenhuth and D. B. Duncan (1968)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 18, 532-540
   Abstract »    PDF »
Aspirin for Treatment of Minor Illness in Adolescents.
K. D. Rogers and G. Reese (1967)
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 114, 55-63
   Abstract »    PDF »
Conservation of the Self.
H. C. SHANDS (1963)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 9, 311-323
   Abstract »    PDF »
Special Communication.
H. K. Beecher (1962)
JAMA 179, 437-440
   PDF »
Surgery as Placebo: A Quantitative Study of Bias.
H. K. Beecher (1961)
JAMA 176, 1102-1107
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)