Placebo in history
Aspect of medical history / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The word placebo was used in a medicinal context in the late 18th century to describe a "commonplace method or medicine" and in 1811 it was defined as "any medicine adapted more to please than to benefit the patient". Although this definition contained a derogatory implication,[1] it did not necessarily imply that the remedy had no effect.[2]
Placebos have featured in medical use until well into the twentieth century.[3] In 1955 Henry K. Beecher published an influential paper entitled The Powerful Placebo which proposed idea that placebo effects were clinically important.[4] Subsequent re-analysis of his materials, however, found in them no evidence of any "placebo effect".[5]