[yourapostasy]

> ...but how does placebo actually work?

Whatever the mechanism factors turn out to be, I would not be at all surprised if it involves areas of study that clinical studies currently dismiss as unimportant.

> If it works, why don't we use it for our benefit?

Currently difficult to control outcomes because we understand so little of it, and a possibility that it would depress the financial results of a lot of current US "medical/healthcare industry" stakeholders if it turns out for example, having a doting Israeli grandmother dropping by each day with steaming hot matzo ball soup with some unmentionable ingredient that still tastes bitter as hell, a handful of friends calling with jokes, and a couple hours a day in the sauna works cheaper and just as well as a $200 antiviral prescription.