The Wonder Pill

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It has finally been acknowledged that the placebo effect-historically seen as a distraction from "real" medical treatment-is a genuine phenomenon and a potential addition to the arsenal of modern medicine. In this classic program from the Scientific American Frontiers series, host Alan Alda discovers that the roots of the placebo effect go back to the days of herbal remedies, that placebos can cause measurable changes in the brains of patients with depression, that periodic placebos may extend the usefulness of standard Parkinson's treatment, and more
New Research on Placebos (1:30)
Placebo Effect (1:36)
One Treatment for All (2:21)
Placebos of Yore (1:04)
Placebos had a Place (2:18)
Brainwaves Lift the Blues (1:07)
Different Responses to Placebos (1:52)
Changes in Placebo Patients (1:37)
Multiple Pathways Toward Improvement (1:43)
The Placebo Effect is Real (1:34)
The Empathetic Doctor (3:05)
The Cold HMO Doctor (1:58)
Patient Expectations (1:42)
Introduction to Cedric Bell (1:24)
Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease (1:46)
Placebos for Parkinson's (1:18)
Placebo: Expectation of Benefit. (1:14)
The Mind Controlling the Body (1:44)
Snuffing the Sniffles (1:54)
Placebo or Not (1:24)
Cold Remedies (1:23)
Placebo Cold Remedy (2:20)
Psychological Benefit (1:01)
Healing Rituals (0:56)
Placebo Effect of Acupuncture (1:16)
Carpel Tunnel Acupuncture Study (1:03)
The Healing Power of Acupuncture (2:27)
Real or Fake (1:00)
Fooled by the Placebo (1:27)
Healing Carpel Tunnel (1:17)
Ritual Effect of Treatments (1:52)
Studying Placebo Analgesics (1:13)
Gathering Baseline Measures (1:11)
Placebo Analgesia (1:46)
Human Interaction and the Art of Medicine (0:32)

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