Blinded Clinical Trial
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A blinded (or
masked) clinical trial is a field study of a drug in which
the recipient does not know if he is receiving the actual
drug versus a placebo. A double-blind clinical trial is
one in which both the recipient and the administrator
does not know if the recipient is receiving the actual
drug. |
The blinded trial approach has been shown to provide a more
complete understanding of a drug's effectiveness, benefits,
and the range of possible adverse reactions without the bias
of the "placebo effect". It has been confirmed that a person's
beliefs and hopes about a treatment, combined with their suggestibility,
may have a significant biochemical effect.
Placebo effect
The placebo effect is the measure or observed effect on a
person or group that has been given a placebo treatment.
A placebo is an inert substance, or "fake" surgery or therapy,
used as a control in an experiment or given to a patient for
its possible or probable beneficial effect. Why an inert substance,
a so-called "sugar pill," or a fake surgery or therapy would
be effective, is not yet completely known.
Many believe the placebo effect is psychological, due to
either a real effect caused by belief or to a subjective delusion.
For example: "If I believe the pill will help, it will
help." Often, the patient's physical condition does not
change, but it feels like it has. For example, Irving Kirsch,
a psychologist at the University of Connecticut, believes
that the effectiveness of Prozac and similar drugs may be
attributed almost entirely to the placebo effect.
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