Showing posts with label placebo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label placebo. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

How to Personalize the Placebo Effect, similar to Personalized Medicine - Upcoming Book


It seems reasonable and logical to me, to Personalize the Placebo Effect for each individual patient.  


Next year, I will be publishing a book describing how each Healthcare Provider, e.g. Doctor, could Enhance the Placebo Effect of the prescribed Medicine/Treatment for each Patient.  

This might lead to less dependence on medicines/treatments, with their accompanying side-effects.

This book will be more of a How-To Book for Healthcare Professionals and even Patients.

What the doctor says or does makes a huge difference in the Perceived Effectiveness of Medicines/Treatments.

To accomplish this book, I will be looking at "what's been done before" and offer up ideas on "what else could be done".  This might be a first-of-kind book on this topic, from which others could build upon.

From what I see so far by my preliminary research below, the Placebo Effect is affected by many factors including the Patient's Personality, Age, Race, Gender, Religion, Culture, Belief Systems, etc.

By developing a Placebo Maximization Profile for each Patient, the doctor could say or do things to Maximize the Perceived Effectiveness of the prescribed Medicine/Treatment.  

The doctor/nurse could also advise the patient how to continue the enhance perceived effectiveness at home.

I foresee learning about the patient by prepared patient questionnaires to generally help the doctor "learn about the patient", i.e. "find out what makes the patient tick".   

In addition to developing a Placebo Maximization Profile, this questionnaire would help the doctor and patient get along better and improve communication. generally.

Want to know more?  You'll have to wait until I publish my book next year.  Stay tuned!

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References so far...

Personalized placebo effect | Genotopia

This app lets you create personalized placebo effects to enhance your ...

Placebo - Page 111 

 

Mind-Body Healing Machines: How to Enhance the Placebo Effect ...

the placebo-nocebo response in patients with depression

A Trial of Personalized Acupuncture, Standardized Acupuncture ...

Personalized prediction of antidepressant v. placebo response ...

Creative Minds: Designing Personalized Clinical Trials – NIH ...

Placebo analgesia: understanding the mechanisms - NCBI - NIH

The placebo-nocebo response in patients with depression: do we need to reconsider our treatment approach and clinical trial designs?

How positive and negative expectations shape the experience of visceral pain

Matching message strategies to personality characteristics: The usability of alternative variables in tailored health communication

Personality Predicts Placebo Effect | The Scientist Magazine®

The placebo response in medicine: minimize, maximize or personalize?

 

The Power of Placebo: Why Context Matters for Healing | Kresser ...

How can placebo effects best be applied in clinical practice? A ...

Age and sex as moderators of the placebo response – an evaluation ...

What techniques might be used to harness placebo effects in non ...

Clinical relevance of contextual factors as triggers of placebo and ...

Placebo acceptability in chronic pain patients: More dependent on ...

The Influence of Expectation on Nondeceptive Placebo and Nocebo ...

Role of Conditioning and Verbal Suggestion in Placebo and Nocebo ...

Can an Educational Handout Enhance Placebo Analgesia for ...

Socially-induced placebo analgesia: a comparison of a pre-recorded ...

Cognitive Factors Mediate Placebo Responses in Patients with House ...

A Novel Strategy to Identify Placebo Responders - CDASR - Harvard ...

Understanding and harnessing placebo effects: Clearing away the ...

BRAIN PREDICTORS OF PLACEBO ... - Semantic Scholar

Who responds to placebos? Considering the "placebo personality" via ...

Are placebo effects genetically determined? – Science-Based Medicine

Role of Conditioning and Verbal Suggestion in Placebo and Nocebo ...

Personality Trait Predictors of Placebo Analgesia and Neurobiological ...

Does personality play a relevant role in the placebo effect?

Who responds to placebos? Considering the “placebo personality” via ...

Frontiers | Prediction of placebo responses: a systematic review of the ...

Personality Trait Predictors of Placebo Analgesia and Neurobiological ...

Who responds to placebos? Considering the "placebo personality" via ...

Personality and placebo responses in non-pain paradigms: Building a ...

The Quantification of Placebo Effects Within a General Model of Health ...

Factors that Contribute to Susceptibility of the Placebo/Nocebo Effect ...

The role of personality factors and suggestion in placebo effect ...

Spirituality: an overlooked predictor of placebo effects? - NCBI - NIH

Race, Age, and Health Status May Predict Placebo Effect in Use of ...

Are some people wired to fall for placebos? | PBS NewsHour

5-factor rootedness assessment model: Toward a new assessment model in psychotherapy

Genetics and the Placebo Effect: the Placebome - NCBI - NIH

 

 

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Search Strings....

"personalized placebo"

"placebo personality"

(customize OR tailor OR personalize) placebo

 

Disclaimer - Article is for information only and is not medical advice.

 

 



Saturday, September 01, 2018

What can we learn from "Quack" Medicines, Medical Devices, and Therapy?


What's the difference between Alternative Medical Devices and Quack Medical Devices?  It depends on who you ask!
  • Satisfied patients who have found relief in such devices will say the devices are Alternative/Complementary Therapy, that maybe even a doctor recommended. (Anecdotal Evidence)
  • Purists who ignore Anecdotal Evidence and only accept Scientific Evidence will say the devices are Quackery.
Like it or not, Alternative/Complementary Medical (CAM) Devices are here to stay, despite being called Quackery, by some.  This is shown by the huge, and growing, CAM market.


 

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, here's a list of Complementary/Alternative Medicine/Therapy/etc.

Now to the learning parts:
  • First and most important - Some past/present CAM modalities are just not safe.  Why not make them safe for patient use - via redesign, instructions, etc.?


  • Healthcare professionals, e.g. doctors, could help patients find relief from symptoms when science does not provide relief - if they wanted to and were not bound by peer ethics.


Quiz - Is it more important to provide "relief in any way" to patients, especially those with chronic symptoms, e.g. pain,  or only provide scientifically proven methods of relief?


Clue - Try taking a copper magnetic bracelet away from a patient finding relief from pain from this bracelet.


There you have it.  Let's get to work!

References -

The placebo effect in alternative medicine: can the ... - NCBI - NIH

Placebo effect behind many natural cures - Health - Alternative ...

Placebo Effects: Biological, Clinical and Ethical Advances - NCBI - NIH

The ethics of the placebo in clinical practice | Journal of Medical Ethics

Is Alternative Medicine Just a Placebo? | Psychology Today

Do medical devices have enhanced placebo effects? - Semantic Schola

Welcome to The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices Online ...

Quack Medical - Spark Museum

Ridiculous Vintage Quack Medical Devices | Medical Billing

Alternative "Quack" Medical Devices

The Big Quack Attack: Medical Devices - Device Watch

Part IV: Regulating Cosmetics, Devices, and Veterinary Medicine After ...

The Literature of Quackery: Amusement and Understanding - OHSU

Medical Quackery!

The Quack Doctor

Questionable Device Index - Quackwatch

museum of quack medical electrotherapy instruments - W1TP ...

Quackery - Wikipedia

Anecdotal evidence - Wikipedia

Scientific evidence - Wikipedia

Safe Use of Complementary Health Products and Practices | NCCIH

The other side of the coin: safety of complementary and alternative ...

The placebo effect is amplified when doctors appear likeable and ...

Should Doctors Use More Placebos? - Medscape

Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones: The American Medicine Show

 

 

 

Article is for information only and is not medical advice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, November 21, 2014

Microcontroller (Arduino) controlled Placebo Medical Device? Mobile Phone App?

Is anyone experimenting with a Medical Device that enhances the Placebo Effect?

Perhaps with a Micro-Controller, such as Arduino? 

Or...with a cell phone app?... 


Or....both??????


Or what????


I tried these search strings and found little, (so far) - 

(device OR machine OR apparatus) (placebo OR quack OR quackery OR fake) (microcontroller OR arduino)

 (placebo OR quack OR quackery) app (phone OR mobile OR cellular)


I see great potential in enhancing the Placebo Effect in healing. - What do you think?

Are you interested?  - Stay tuned!

References, particularly of interest - 


*  Do medical devices have enhanced placebo effects? - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10942860


*Testing Medical Devices, Placebo Surgery and Ethics - http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303775504579396954056675022


*  A Placebo Mobile App that Changes Your Life - from Placebo Effect - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-placebo-mobile-app-that-changes-your-life-from-placebo-effect

*  Enhancing placebo effects: insights from social psychology. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23488251


*  Enhancing the Placebo - http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/enhancing-the-placebo/?_r=0


......More to come, I predict....


Placebo references....





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo-controlled_study


"Patients frequently show improvement even when given a sham or "fake" treatment. Such intentionally inert placebo treatments can take many forms, such as a pill containing only sugar, a surgery where nothing efficacious is actually done (just an incision and sometimes some minor touching or handling of the underlying structures), or a medical device (such as an ultrasound machine) that is not actually turned on. Also, due to the body's natural healing ability and statistical effects such as regression to the mean, many patients will get better even when given no treatment at all. Thus, the relevant question when assessing a treatment is not "does the treatment work?" but "does the treatment work better than a placebo treatment, or no treatment at all?" As one early clinical trial researcher wrote, "the first object of a therapeutic trial is to discover whether the patients who receive the treatment under investigation are cured more rapidly, more completely or more frequently, than they would have been without it."[1]p.195 More broadly, the aim of a clinical trial is to determine what treatments, delivered in what circumstances, to which patients, in what conditions, are the most effective."

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo


"A placebo has been defined as "a substance or procedure… that is objectively without specific activity for the condition being treated".[16] Under this definition, a wide variety of things can be placebos and exhibit a placebo effect. Pharmacological substances administered through any means can act as placebos, including pills, creams, inhalants, and injections. Medical devices such as ultrasound can act as placebos.[18][19] Sham surgery,[20][21][22] sham electrodes implanted in the brain,[1] and sham acupuncture, either with sham needles or on fake acupuncture points, have all exhibited placebo effects.[23] Bedding not treated to reduce allergies has been used as a placebo to control for treated bedding.[24] The physician has even been called a placebo;[25] a study found that patient recovery can be increased by words that suggest the patient "would be better in a few days", and if the patient is given treatment, that "the treatment would certainly make him better" rather than negative words such as "I am not sure that the treatment I am going to give you will have an effect".[26] The placebo effect may be a component of pharmacological therapies: Pain killing and anxiety reducing drugs that are infused secretly without an individual's knowledge are less effective than when a patient knows they are receiving them. Likewise, the effects of stimulation from implanted electrodes in the brains of those with advanced Parkinson's disease are greater when they are aware they are receiving this stimulation.[27] Sometimes administering or prescribing a placebo merges into fake medicine."

Hypnosis References - 

*  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnosis

Combining Hypnosis with the Placebo Effect!!!!!

*  Hypnobo: perspectives on hypnosis and placebo. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17685242

Technical Stuff...

Microcontroller - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcontroller

Arduino - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino

Some resources on Inventing Your own App's....


*  "App Inventor" - by Hal Abelson, Ellen Spertus, Liz Looney - "O'Reilly Media, Inc.", Apr 20, 2011

*  MIT App Inventor - http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/


Looking for examples or ideas on how this all might work....?

*  The "Virtual Healing Machine" - combining hypnosis and activating the Placebo Effect - https://sites.google.com/site/thevirtualhealingmachine/


*  Make your own Virtual Healing Machine with "Virtual Hypnotist"- http://thevirtualhealingmachine.blogspot.com/2011/06/make-your-own-virtual-healing-machine.html


How to Make Your Own Healing Machine - Little Known Techniques to Help You Heal- http://interesting-health-information.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-to-make-your-own-healing-machine.html



Have fun!  :-)

Disclaimer - Article is for information only and is not advice of any kind.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Consider Recycling Medical Devices as “Alternative or Complementary” Therapy Tools



A New and Unique Way to Recycle Broken or Obsolete Medical Devices


Consider Recycling Medical Devices as “Alternative or Complementary” Therapy Tools

Medical devices and equipment become obsolete too. Sometimes, these devices are recycled for use in poverty areas, which is very good. 

Some equipment cannot be refurbished for further use, however. What happens to those devices? 
 
Usually, medical devices that cannot be refurbished are destroyed. This seems like a waste to me.
Could these devices be converted to placebo healing devices? The devices would not have to work; they just have to look like they work.
 
The Placebo Effect is well known. Whether anyone likes it or not, the placebo response is a part of any medicine or medical treatment. Much of alternative, complementary, and/or integrative medicine seems to be the placebo effect. 

A device does not have to be in working condition for the placebo effect to work. The patient just has to believe, even a little, that it is working for the placebo effect to start. 

Therefore, please consider recycling unusable medical devices into "healing machines", instead of destroying them. 

Below are some thoughts on how to implement such a plan, if so desired. 

1. First, check around and see if the above is legal in your locality. In addition, check if you are legally able to heal in your locality. Many areas of the world require a license to "practice medicine". Also, see if there is a demand for placebo powered healing machines, before you go to too much trouble. With legal clearance, go ahead with below.
2. Thoroughly clean and disinfect the device.
3. Disable the devices electrically and mechanically. Remove any spring tensions, etc. You do not want to hurt someone while trying to heal them.
4. Remove manufacturer labels or anything to show that made the device initially.
5. Now, that you have a "dead" device comes the fun part.
6. Augment the device with battery powered lights, sounds, smells, vibrations, etc. Really make it look like it is doing something. Make it impressive. Have others review the emotional impact. See if they are "wowed". Again, it should not do anything, but just look good.
7. A big part of the placebo response is the healing ritual. Develop a performance surrounding the healing machine. Involve the patient in the healing procedure, if possible. Make it believable.
8. At the end of the performance, reassure them of the healing process. Give them a small token as a remembrance of this healing process. If symptoms recur, ask them to rub the object to remind them of the ongoing healing. 

Since this a new concept, it might take a while to catch on, if at all. This might be a new and exciting field for biomedical engineers. Most medical designs do not consider the Placebo Effect at all, yet about 30% of healing is attributed to the Placebo Effect, the "Will to Live", and so on. 

Takeaways:
  • Broken or obsolete medical devices could be recycled into Alternative or Complementary Healing Devices.
  • Biomedical engineers could design to maximize the Placebo Effect, and therefore maximize overall healing efficiency.
  • A completely new medical industry lies in wait.
For more information:
Disclaimer - Article is for informational use only and is not medical and/or legal advice. Seek professional help, as needed or wanted.

Health Care Costs Can Be Decreased by Enhancing the Placebo Effect



Capturing the Elusive Placebo Effect by Biofeedback Techniques


Health Care Costs Can Be Decreased by Enhancing the Placebo Effect

The Placebo Effect is a part of every medicine or medical treatment. The Placebo Effect makes medicines and treatments work better. Perhaps the Placebo Effect could be described as a patient's hope, faith, or belief in a medicine or treatment. The patient expects to get better by taking the medicine or by undergoing the treatment. 

If the Placebo Effect could be increased, the use of medicines and medical treatments could decrease. This could decrease overall health care cost.
 
Some researchers are indeed trying to maximize the Placebo Effect or at least find out how this phenomenon works. What we do know is that when a patient expects a medicine or treatment to work, it will work better. When the patient doubts the efficacy of a medical intervention, the intervention will be less effective. Essentially, the Placebo Effect is most active when the patient expects or anticipates relief. 

An example of the Placebo Effect at work is when someone takes a pain reliever and says, "I feel better already" after only a few minutes. In actuality, this is impossible because the body has not even absorbed the medicine yet. The patient perceives to feel better already, because they expect relief. 

Expecting or anticipating a positive response is an emotional event. Think of the last time you were excited about a future positive event. You could hardly wait and were emotional.
Consider the Placebo Effect an emotional event. Science has the tools to study emotional events. 

One such "Emotion Measuring Tool" is the Biofeedback Device. Many of these devices use Skin Conductance to determine emotional arousal. When a person is excited, they perspire and Biofeedback Devices measure this. Some devices even have a computer output to track events. 

It is proposed in this article to use Biofeedback Devices to learn how to enhance the Placebo Effect. Below is the description of how this might work.
 
1. The patient would be connected or wear a Biofeedback Device or Monitor.
2. To enhance the Placebo Effect, doctors would say or do things that might elicit a positive expectation of relief or healing. The doctors would continuously monitor the Biofeedback Device to determine if their actions are successful. If the doctor can get the patient to believe that relief is possible, the monitor will show that, since the patient will become excited and slightly perspire.
3. Through time, the Placebo Effect can be captured, studied, and shared. From this, we can learn to enhance the Placebo Effect. 

Takeaways:
  • The Placebo Effect is rooted in the Sympathetic Nervous System as an expectation of a positive outcome (hope).
  • Biofeedback devices, such as Skin Conductance, measure the activity of the Sympathetic Nervous System.
  • Therefore, biofeedback techniques can provide quantitative information about the Placebo Effect.
For more information:
Disclaimer - Article is for information only and is not medical advice.