Quote Originally Posted by Melalvai View Post
The placebo effect can be very strong. So if you find something that works for you, stick with it even if all the research shows it is "just" placebo. The nice thing about placebo is it doesn't have the side effects of many drugs! A friend of mine had been on so many medications, pretty much her entire life, and decided that she was tired of them all. So, with her doctors' help, she got off all of them. She has celiac and some food allergies, so she went on a pretty strict diet, no wheat, soy, dairy, sugar, and no meat because she's vegetarian. (She had already quit caffeine & alcohol.) And she started acupuncture. After 10 sessions she dropped the acupuncture but kept all the other changes. She said the acupuncture didn't seem to do anything, but I was glad she had it as part of her getting-off-meds, because it made it a little less scary.

In other words I also believe that any acupuncture effect is placebo, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, if it works for you. You might think about quitting sugar. She'll have a bit of sugar once in a while, and the very painful cramps come back when she does. But it's hard to quit sugar, it's all around us all the time, and a stressful time of your life is maybe not a good time to try it.
I don't entirely disagree but have reservations. If an underlying problem needs fixing the placebo effect will not fix it. So, the risk is that an effective treatment is not sought. For example, people with asthma treated with acupuncture sometimes feel better--the placebo effect. But their lung function is not better. They just think it is. So, the treatment is worse than no treatment at all because you don't know your lung function is impaired. Also, unlike less invasive placebo treatments, acupuncture does have risks. You may have no positive effect and keep trying and trying treatments, wasting time and money. You may get better on your own and think it was the treatment, also wasting money. The placebo effect also tends to "wear off" with the passage of time. So you get a temporary boost in feeling better but you end up back where you were.

If a problem is anxiety related there are better ways to address the issue. Relaxation techniques aren't invasive and aren't a pill and can be effective.

I just generally have a problem with misleading people and that is what practitioners are doing, whether intentionally or unintentionally.