What are placebos, and do they work?
Psychoanalysis teaches us that there are two kinds of thinking: primary process and secondary process. Primary process is magical thinking characteristic of children. Secondary process is rational thinking characteristic of adults. Since we never really outgrow our childhood, we never fully give up our primary process thinking. Ironically, education sometimes promotes primary process thinking, rather than secondary process thinking. This happens in medical education, in which medical students are taught that the use of placebos promotes a sense of “healing” in the patient, and moreover, promotes a sense of “success” in the physician. Sadly, a sugar pill is being used to “treat” both patient and physician. Since health care is ostensibly based on science and secondary process thinking, it’s time to dispense with placebos and to stop dispensing them to patients.
