There is a lot of confusion about the placebo effect  It is extremely deceptive to say Treatment X works because of the placebo effect  thats not how mainstream science says things   I once had a friend with a pounding headache  he asked if I had any TylenolI didnt so I lied and gave him two Tic Tac mints instead they look just like Tylenol pills  and within  minutes the headache got better  It probably would have gotten better anyway  and if it was some kind of stressinduced thing perhaps he was destressed a little by knowing that his headache was going to go away soon  So here is the question Do tic tacs cure headaches  No  What sometimes cures or reduces some kinds of headache is the conviction in the patient that the pain will soon get better  Do you expect us to edit the Tic Tac article to say Tictacs cure headaches via the placebo effect  Its a true statement  if scientists did a controlled doubleblinded experiment their findings would say that they cure headaches just as well as sugar pills and just as well as homeopathic Gelsemium pills and maybe  as well as Tylenol   Homeopathic treatments dont cure a damned thing  they do absolutely nothing  The convincing presentation of some kind of inert treatment can sometimes either improve or cure some kinds of condition  But you dont need to pay  httpwwwabchomeopathycomshopphp for a diluted  times succussed droppedontoalactose pill infusion of some weird plant or other  A  cent packet of tic tacs is exactly as effective  There is no need for all of the homeopathic bullshit that goes along with that  its a total waste of human existence   Worse still invoking the placebo effect as the mechanism by which homeopathy works is highly deceptive  It suggests that homeopathic cures are say  effective and that this is because of the placebo effect  Thats extremely deceptive  They work exactly as well as any sugar pill mint candy or other treatment that the patient would find credible   Caveat My story about the friend the headache and the tic tacs is not true  it never happened and it only worked as an argument because you believed in itby the placebo effect if you like