As the BMJ noted in its survey of physicians’ use of placebos this past week, the placebo effect is a powerful treatment. Judith Graham’s “Triage” blog examines this phenomenon and reminds us that it’s not the pill that’s causing the effect, but the attention to patient concerns: “In other words, it is the communication of caring, the feeling of being attended to, the transmission of confidence, the quality of the relationship between doctor and patient that holds the potential to ignite the placebo effect.”

Read the full entry: Placebos and the doctor-patient relationship.