Mogil suggests it is also worth investigating the elements that generate the more powerful placebo response in US trials, and then incorporating those elements (such as the relationship between patient and nurse) into patient care. Ted Kaptchuk, director of placebo research at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, agrees. "If the major component of a drug in any particular condition is its placebo component, we need to develop non-pharmacological interventions as a first-line response," he says.

This is the critical line, in my opinion. Doctors often greatly undervalue the effect of placebo, by focusing too much on doing things which have a proven effect beyond placebo. When I go to the doctor, I feel like they can't wait to get me out of the office. This is why people go to homeopaths, and claim that it works. It's because the homeopaths take their time to speak To their patients, and make them feel like they've been listened to.

If medical doctors had more time to spend with their patients, even if they could offer no meaningful treatment, I bet that would help people a lot.