May 2026
Leading researchers conclude the placebo response is real and important, and are pivoting to understand and “harness” the underlying mind-body connection.
An editorial in the May issue of The Lancet Psychiatry urges clinicians to stop thinking of placebo effects as a nuisance, and more as complementary treatment. The issue also includes two articles summarizing the state of placebo science.
“Rather than wishing them away in narrow attempts to demonstrate a treatment’s efficacy, researchers should try to better understand placebo and nocebo responses to help control them and to harness their therapeutic potential alongside active treatments,” the editorial concluded. [Placebo refers to a positive effect, while nocebo refers to a perceived harmful one.]
Although The Lancet stops short of openly acknowledging a nonphysical human capability to self-heal, describing the placebo effect as something more than a clinical disturbance is an important step. And other scientists are going further.
The directions of the new placebo research are intriguing. For instance, the phenomenon sometimes works without deception. Earlier experiments noticed the placebo effect when sugar pills were presented as real medicine. But the success of open-level placebos has shifted the science. That’s when researchers tell patients up-front they are receiving a placebo.
For example, a study published in March in the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology found stress levels of older adults improved even when they took a pill clearly marked “placebo.” In fact, their stress fell more than their peers who received sham medicine. Short-term memory also improved significantly in the open-label group. The study, conducted in Milan, was the first of its kind to test the placebo effect on ailments associated with natural aging.
Another new turn is toward self-induced placebo. To date, patients and healthy people have been passive participants. Authority figures such as researchers in lab coats doled out placebo treatments. Trust in that figure, as well as patient expectation and belief, and the treatment setting, were considered key elements of the effect. These inherently authoritarian aspects of traditional placebo medicine are worrisome, and ethically challenging.
A group of Italian researchers, therefore, are exploring how to empower patients and people with their own placebo power, using mental imaging, somatic focusing (awareness of the body) and overall feelings of self-control.
“The next time you experience a headache, fatigue, or stress, take a moment to try one of these techniques. Close your eyes and visualize relief. Tune in to your body and focus on positive sensations. Or simply remind yourself that you’re in control of how you respond. See what happens – you might be surprised at just how powerful your mind can be,” according to an article on this self-induced placebo effect.
The science is shifting so far some researchers are beginning to rethink the whole phenomenon. Maybe a healthy mind-body has an innate “healing response” influenced by various mental, social and contextual factors. One of the world’s premier placebo researchers, Ted J. Kaptchuk, and various integrative and holistic medical programs at Harvard University and elsewhere, see a connection between ancient and indigenous medicine and advanced placebo science.
The take-away, say many psychologists and clinicians, is that belief shapes reality. For instance, when you eat right, exercise, do yoga, meditate, etc., you not only benefit physiologically, but also benefit from activating a belief system. This “ritual of healthy living” acts as a placebo, according to Dr. Howard LeWine, a practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing.
Written by Tom Zolper
Edited by Anders Bolling
Further reading: FJN’s Topic Brief “Covering the Placebo Effect.”
