[jVinc]

You're trying to make an argument as to why the placebo indirectly could have had an actual effect, but this is exactly what the study showed that id did not have. There was no effect, only a reported improvement which did not correspond to an actual improvement.

eg. "Study reported the subject did not see any red apples, only green" and your asking "Maybe the subject was wearing tinted glasses that could made a green apple seem red?"

The answer is obviously no, that cannot be the case, because that would have led to an observed red apple, and there was no such observation. Just like there was no observed improvement in the asthmatic response from the placebo, then it's also obvious that there was no indirect improvement from emotional ease, because if that was the case, then there had to have been an observed improvement.