People's expectations that they will improve, cultural beliefs, and the enthusiasm of the treating doctor all may be at work in the placebo effect, these examples show. Other non-medical events also can trigger a biological response as a placebo apparently does. The example Moerman gives is blushing. An embarrassing remark brings blood to the cheeks. The mechanism that sets it off is what researchers are after.
Placebo is a pretty good painkiller.
A saline injection was enough to kill the pain in 30 percent to 40 percent of people who got their wisdom teeth out in one study a few years ago at the University of Maryland. Research now shows that placebo might be as good as anti depressants for some patients. This is thought to account for the findings in perhaps the most famous study of the placebo effect in surgery. The procedure, ligation of the arteries, is no longer done. The manner of a doctor also may affect how fast treatment takes hold, many researchers now believe.