`  : There is a lot of confusion about the placebo effect.  It is extremely deceptive to say ``Treatment 'X' works because of the placebo effect`` - that's not how mainstream science says things.  : I once had a friend with a pounding headache - he asked if I had any Tylenol...I didn't, so I lied and gave him two Tic Tac mints instead (they look just like Tylenol pills!) - and within 10 minutes, the headache got better.  It probably would have gotten better anyway - and if it was some kind of stress-induced thing, perhaps he was de-stressed a little by knowing that his headache was going to go away soon.  So, here is the question: ``Do tic tacs cure headaches?``  No!  What (sometimes) cures or reduces some kinds of headache is the conviction in the patient that the pain will soon get better.  Do you expect us to edit the Tic Tac article to say ``Tictacs cure headaches via the placebo effect``?  It's a true statement - if scientists did a controlled, double-blinded experiment, their findings would say that they cure headaches just as well as sugar pills and just as well as homeopathic Gelsemium pills and maybe 10% as well as Tylenol.  : Homeopathic treatments don't cure a damned thing - they do absolutely nothing!  The convincing presentation of some kind of inert treatment can sometimes either improve or cure some kinds of condition.  But you don't need to pay $20 (http://www.abchomeopathy.com/shop.php) for a diluted 10100 times, succussed, dropped-onto-a-lactose pill infusion of some weird plant or other.  A 60 cent packet of tic tacs is exactly as effective.  There is no need for all of the homeopathic bullshit that goes along with that - it's a total waste of human existence.  : Worse still, invoking the placebo effect as the mechanism by which homeopathy ``works`` is highly deceptive.  It suggests that homeopathic cures are (say) 90% effective and that this is ``because of the placebo effect``.  That's extremely deceptive.  They work exactly as well as any sugar pill, mint candy or other 'treatment' that the patient would find credible.  : Caveat: My story about the friend, the headache and the tic tacs is not true - it never happened and it only worked as an argument because you believed in it...by the placebo effect if you like! -)  :   `