The tricky thing about that (which isn't false, per se) in the context of mental health is that "relieve some self reported symptoms" can actually be sufficient treatment. As with many sorts of pain, if the patient feels better, _they are better_ in a meaningful sense. Whether it's "real" is sort of beside the point, especially if the problem is that they are (for example) too miserable to do normal life things that would stop them being miserable and the placebo is sufficient for them to feel as if perhaps they could.
Not necessarily. The placebo effect is the kind of thing where you might have trouble at first telling if your symptoms are improving or if you’re just having a “good day” or an “easy week”, and that confusion can even last a month or two during which you’re over-observing your internal state and feeling hopeful that “maybe this is what getting better feels like”. But in the long term you often figure it out.
I had a placebo effect recently when switching ADHD medication to get around the shortages. For a couple months I thought there was a chance my new meds might actually be better, they definitely felt different (and still do). But six months in it’s clear to me that I’m struggling with productivity more than I was before I switched (though less than when I was off meds).
I’m just one guy, but I’d guess this is why doctors don’t just prescribe placebos all the time as actual therapies (well, that and they’d lose credibility which would then destroy any remaining placebo effect).
Also, relief of emotional discomfort can help the patient adopt more behaviors that are associated with positive changes in mental health, such as exercise and pursuing social engagements.
My M.D. father, family practice in the army, later a pathologist, would do what he had learned from other doctors: Put some dye in toothpaste, put it on the wart(s), bandage it, talk about what a miracle cure it was etc. He said it worked the few times he tried it.
The pigments fungi produce are so essential to their survival, they can’t defend against pathogens when they are gene edited to stop producing them.
Toothpaste is also far from an inactive substance, there are definitely plausible mechanisms at play with the toothpaste and dye mix that could help suppress/resolve a wart. It would be worth a study, though I’m not sure what one would use to try and achieve a truly inert placebo for comparison without first figuring out what doesn’t work.
Mental health conditions are typically defined by a collection of symptoms though, aren't they? I am not suggesting there is no underlying cause, but our ability to detect and quantify that cause is lacking, so defining disorders based on a collection of symptoms is what we are mostly left with in many cases.