This week we feel better about ourselves by just believing we could. Also, we ate some Skittles. Join us as we discuss the confounding ability of placebos to help with pain relief, depression, and IBS, leading us to ask, why not just do that in the first place, brain?

Sources:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/placebo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphins

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3104618/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo_(at_funeral)

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61775-X/fulltext

https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/95/1/19/2520190

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/80579

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo_in_history

https://harvardmagazine.com/2017/03/henry-knowles-beecher

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_K._Beecher

https://maximumfun.org/adam-ruins-everything/adam-ruins-everything-episode-45-dr-kathryn-hall-surprising-power-placebos

https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/04/23/man-who-overdosed-placebo-12871

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/5whgzd/placebo-can-the-mind-cure-you

https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/11/the-placebo-effect-digested-10-amazing-findings/