Is Your Doctor Prescribing Placebos?

TIME: "One of the most intriguing processes in medicine is the placebo effect: the healing power of a sham therapy, when it's offered to patients with the suggestion that it will help. Neuroscientists have even observed where and how the placebo effect may work in the brain. In one recent study by University of Michigan researchers, participants who were told they would receive painkillers showed increased production of endorphins — the brain's natural pain reliever — even though they got no analgesic at all. It makes sense. Most people can attest that the mere expectation of relief can somehow prompt the body to respond. What most people don't know, however, is that doctors occasionally prescribe placebos to their patients in regular practice."