[tobinfricke]

I assume you mean this as a joke, but homeopathic remedies are so popular here in Germany -- the pharmacy shelves are loaded with them!! -- that I wonder whether use of the placebo effect is an official component of the national healthcare strategy.

[TillE]

Yeah, it's extremely weird to see homeopathic "medicine" all over in a country with an otherwise excellent, modern medical system.

Germany generally does a good job on evidence-based herbal medicine (like standardizing St. John's wort extract), but I worry that the line can easily be blurred between them and homeopathic products in the eyes of most consumers. You really have to look carefully - they're not clearly marked.

So honestly, you're probably quite right about it being a deliberate exploitation of the placebo effect. Because otherwise, there's no reason not to ban them.

[pluma]

No kidding. I went to the doctor with sleeping problems one time and he suggested I look up a certain drug. He said I couldn't get a prescription for it and it was to be taken therapeutically (i.e. indefinitely) and at the normal dosage it would cost something like 50 bucks a month.

I went home and looked it up: a homeopathic panacea with only a single "study". Not double blind, not even single blind -- they literally just gave the drug to some participants and the self-reported symptoms "improved".

I'm still not sure whether the GP was just trolling me.

[tobinfricke]

I've had similar experiences. I find it very strange. You make a good point: the homeopathic remedies aren't even cheap.