When it comes to measuring the placebo effect, which works better: fake acupuncture or fake pills? Researchers have recently redefined the role of the placebo, from a nuisance variable that needed to be controlled in clinical trials, to bona fide contributor to the improvement of patient outcomes.
Ted Kaptchuk, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard and Director of the Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, joins us to share his findings.
