I signed up for some emails from some kind of a psychiatric association.. So I'm browsing their info and I discover that they are absolutely brainwashed with regard to natural cures. The correct answer on the test is to say that natural cures are entirely placebo!! So, I'm thinking, what if my underlying belief is that pharmaceuticals never, ever work? Wouldn't that negate the effect? Isn't there a reverse placebo effect? Wouldn't people participating in a drug trial assume that the stuff being tested was supposed to be good for them? It's unreasonable to think that one would be in a test of poison. Therefore the placebo effect is likely the reason that pharmaceuticals work in trials.
but there is an assumption by the participants that the substance under test is supposed to be good for them...
Hmnnn.. people receiving the placebo often get the side effects, too! Nausea, dizziness, headaches.. very interesting.