According to Wikipedia, a placebo effect is “a healing effect of an inert medicine or ineffective therapy. The placebo effect occurs when a patient’s symptoms are altered in some way due to the individual expecting or believing that it will work.” (wiki)
Can a placebo actually heal? And if so, to what extent. Even cancer?
One case I remember reading about involved an experimental drug Krebiozen. In 1950, Krebiozen was toted as a “cure” for cancer and was being tested by both the AMA and the FDA.
One particular doctor had a patient with lymphosarcoma, or cancer of the lymph nodes. The patient had huge tumors throughout his body, needed an oxygen mask to breathe, and had to have fluid removed from his chest every two days. When the patient discovered that the doctor was involved in Krebiozen testing, he begged to be given treatments. The recovery was startling. Within a short time the tumors had shrunk dramatically and the patient was able to resume a normal life, including flying a private plane.
Not too long after, the AMA and FDA reported that the Krebiozen experiements had failed. It was ineffective against cancer. The patient heard the news and his cancer immediately returned.
As if that isn’t startling enough - the story gets more interesting.
Apparently the doctor was on to the fact that this patient’s belief was all that was curing him. So he quickly told him that he had obtained a new, ’super-refined, double-strength Krebiozen’, that would produce even better results than the last time. The injections were in fact - simply sterile water.
Again, the patient’s recovery was remarkable. The tumor masses melted, chest fluid vanished, and he became ambulatory and went back to flying. The patient remained in remission for two months. His belief alone, independent of the value of the medication, produced his recovery.
Then further stories of the AMA and FDA’s tests appeared in press: “Nationwide tests show Krebiozen to be worthless drug treatment of cancer.”
Once again the patient took these stories to heart, and sadly passed away within a few days. In a report published in the Journal of Projective Techniques, the doctor concluded that when the power of his patient’s optimistic beliefs expired, his resistance to the disease expired as well.
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