Even more surprising, after I told them they had been on dummy pills, most said they would carry on taking them. It is called the nocebo effect – the placebo effect's evil twin. The experiment showed the amazing power of the placebo effect and the importance of learning how to harness it. And remember, these were dummy pills that could have had no effect whatsoever. Doctors do this as it's the perfect way to test whether a medicine is actually working, or if its benefits are in fact the placebo effect.

Source: Daily Mail June 08, 2019 21:22 UTC