Understanding Placebo (opens in new tab)

What is placebo? The original meaning of the word placebo is, "I will please." That statement comes from a time when doctors didn't have our modern code of ethics, and they would prescribe whatever would make the person feel better. They probably had the best intentions, but they also would have known that whatever they were prescribing might not have been a real medication for the symptoms the patient was experiencing. Doctors, even then, knew that suggestion was powerful, sometimes more pow...