Another faith healing/hypnosis/placebo post

[Taraz]

I just listened to a Radiolab (NPR) program about the placebo effect. You can download the podcast here: Click on the May 18th program. It had a lot of interesting nuggets. Whatever you want to call the effect, it is very real long as the patient believes in it.

The last 10 minutes of the program dealt with faith healings. It was interesting that when symptoms returned, one previously "healed" Christian woman claimed that the reason was the Devil. The beginning of the program also had a bit about a native american shaman's tricks and how they took advantage of the placebo effect.

I'm not sure what kind of comments I'm looking for, but it's an interesting listen if you have a spare hour or so. It seemed appropriate since we discussed this issue a short while back.