“The placebo effect is people getting better without any active ingredients.” Harvard Medical School’s Ted Kaptchuk, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grantee, cuts across clinical specialties through robust research and specialized technologies, to understand and institutionalize one of the most exciting, and controversial ideas in modern medicine.
Watch the video here.
Based on extensive interviews with Ted Kaptchuk and a number of his colleagues and associates, this article sums up the ground-breaking work that Prof. Kaptchuk has overseen. Read the full text of the article here.
Radio Boston (local NPR station) interviews PiPS Director, Ted Kaptchuk, and Arthur Barsky, Director of Psychiatric Research at Brigham and Women’s Hopsital and professor at Harvard Medical School, on ethical and other questions relating to the nocebo effect.
http://radioboston.wbur.org/2012/09/12/nocebo-effect
Excerpt: “Oh, it was awful! You couldn’t leave the house. You were sick all the time,” said Linda Buonanno, who has been plagued by irritable bowel syndrome for 18 years. “Intestinal pains, cramps, bloating, diarrhea, all that. And it’s very difficult.”
From pills to drastic diet changes, she’s tried it all, desperate for relief. But nothing worked until she signed up for a new Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center study.
“They said it’s the placebo effect. It’s mind over matter,” said Buonanno.
To watch the full story, click here.
Ted Kaptchuk, Director of the Program in Placebo Studies & the Therapeutic Encounter at BIDMC, talks about the role of the placebo to health and describes the surprising results of a recent study which found that patients with irritable bowel syndrome felt better after receiving placebo treatments – even though they knew they were getting sugar pills.
PiPS Associate Director Irving Kirsch is interviewed in today’s Boston Globe. Read the full article here.
PiPS Associate Director Irving Kirsch discusses the placebo effect with Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes this past Sunday.
Click here for the video, transcript and the “60 Minutes Overtime” show.
PiPS Associate Director Irving Kirsch and his work examining the role of the placebo response in antidepressants will be featured on 60 Minutes this coming Sunday (February 19) at 7pm. For the preview of Irving’s conversation with Lesley Stahl and viewing information, click here.
From NPR: A placebo can take the form of a sugar pill or even a fake surgery. It’s often used to test the effectiveness of a trial drug. Ted Kaptchuk, director of Harvard University’s Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter, discusses potential applications for the healing power of placebos. Listen (or read the transcript) here.
The Future of Placebos in Medical Care: New research shows that even when people know they’re taking a placebo, it still makes them feel better. Kojo, PiPS Director Ted Kaptchuk and Wayne Jonas, president and CEO of the Samueli Institute, examine the biological and psychological factors behind the placebo effect and explores how the benefits of placebos could change the future of medical care. Listen here.