Can the placebo effect apply to animals?
Yes, it certainly can. In the context of researching whether a given treatment is effective, there is more to the placebo effect than what the subject knows, believes, or expects. It has been well proven that even if the subject doesn’t know whether he is receiving a placebo or a genuine treatment, he can be influenced in a subliminal way by the person administering the treatment, according the the belief and expectation of that person. This effect has even been observed in animals used as test subjects. * And certainly, a person observing results is going to have his observation biased according to what he believes, hopes, and/or expects. Therefore, the only valid test of the effectiveness of a medical treatment is one in which not only does each subject not know whether he is receiving a placebo or the actual treatment; but one in which the person administering the treatment and the person observing the results also do not know which subjects are getting the genuine treatment and whi
Actually, despite Blaylock’s interesting reasoning, no, it can’t. By definition, the placebo effect is a healing effect which cannot be explained through conventional medical mechanisms, but which is created *by the patient’s own expectations*. By definition, the placebo effect arises within the patient himself. Since animals have no expectations of medicines, they do not display the placebo effect. Different effects can be created in animals by differential handling, and handling can result in animals healing more quickly or more slowly, depending on the amount of stress placed on the animal — but that is not a “placebo” effect, it is an environmental effect and a stress effect (positive or negative). In some cases, a placebo effect in humans (especially for pain relief) has been confirmed by use of the same substance for the same purpose in animals, where (in the case of a placebo) it has no effect at all.
