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A placebo effect is a positive outcome resulting from a simulated treatment, driven largely by an individual's expectation that they will improve. Holding the expectation of recovery can autonomously lead to physiological and psychological benefits, such as reduced stress, lower anxiety and depression, and enhanced immune system functioning, even without an active intervention.

Placebo Effect

After some sort of injury, a certain amount of pain is pathological pain and can be eased by:
- knowing how to direct their attention (i.e. trying to relax and knowing what to expect)
- a placebo

Pain relief (pathological)

Sham surgery is a simulated surgical procedure used as a rigorous control condition to evaluate the true efficacy of an operation. In a notable study on osteoarthritis of the knee, control participants received a tranquilizer and small incisions but no actual procedure. These participants demonstrated physiological improvements in knee pain and function equal to those who received the real arthroscopic surgery, powerfully illustrating that physiological disorders can be positively impacted by the placebo effect.

Example of a Placebo Effect: Sham Surgery

An alternative to using a standard control condition is to compare a new experimental intervention directly against the best available alternative treatment. Because participants in both groups receive an active treatment, their expectations for improvement remain similar, successfully controlling for placebo effects while also addressing the practical question of whether the new treatment outperforms existing clinical standards.

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