What Does Placebo Mean?

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What Does Placebo Mean?

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Answer 1

A placebo is chiefly a substance that contains no medication at all, and it is only given to a person to strengthen a patient's anticipation to get better. It is simply something that has absolutely no remedial properties that serves to appease or reassure an individual. It is an inert material which is given in place of a potent medical drug. Such medication is prescribed when a medicine is not really required or simply to reassure the patient of his or her recovery. The 'placebo effect' is the name given to the condition of an apparent progress in the patient's health which is due to the belief that he or she is taking medicine that will cure the illness.

It is also an inactive substance or preparation that serves as a regulator in an experiment to establish the efficiency of a medicine or a drug.

In ecclesiastical terms, a placebo refers to the service rendered by vespers for the deceased.

Answer 2

In scientific trials, a placebo drug (one that is inert and causing no biological effect) is given to one set of subjects. The other set of subjects gets the real deal... the question as to the effectiveness of the real drug is measured against the placebo group. Hopefully, the real drug will be significantly different in its patient outcome than the placebo group. The "placebo effect" occurs when we think we are getting something that is going to help us, but it can't... however, we miraculously get better because we think that what we are ingesting should make us better.