Abstract

Briefly reviews the history of placebos in medicine and notes that even in modern, tightly controlled triple-blind drug tests, medicinal substances often seem to work for a time and then become ineffective. These results seem to parallel the course of ESP experiments where attitudes of hope and high expectations also produce initial results which eventually decline and become difficult to replicate. It is suggested that a psi factor may be contaminating drug research, and only those remedies which stand the test of time may be free of it. A placebo should not be derided, however, for with authentic motivation a doctor may find it a powerful therapeutic tool.