[tsimionescu]

Sure, for those conditions that have subjective components (e.g. pain, mood) or where there is more or less direct conscious control of the condition (e.g. heart rate, BP), you can vary the strength of such effects.

But in many other conditions, you can't, because that kind of placebo effect is just noise. For example, you can't vary the effectiveness of placebo effects in antibiotics studies (though you may be able to reduce certain side effects like headache or nausea).

[dr_dshiv]

Well, you can if there is a mental connection to the immune system. E.g. attitudes toward life and toward disease seems to affect outcomes in cancer patients. And placebos can affect that.

[tsimionescu]

That's true, but I'm not sure such a link has ever been established. Is there any study that has found measurable variance in cancer or infection outcomes based on differences in mental outlook?

[dr_dshiv]

Here’s an article that speaks to this: https://www.onclive.com/view/markman-column-optimism-plays-a...

In short, yes! Mental outlook has a big effect on outcomes. It won’t cure you, but it will improve your physical outcomes.

This is the meta analysis they refer to: Rozanski A, Bavishi C, Kubzansky LD, Cohen R. Association of optimism with cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(9):e1912200. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.12200

[tsimionescu]

Fascinating, thank you for sharing this, I'll take a deeper look.