Abstract

In 1979, James S. and Jean M. Goodwin and Albert V. Vogel published the first of what became a series of articles that studied current patterns of placebo use. They surveyed 60 house officers and 37 nurses in a New Mexico teaching hospital. Only five of the 1900 patients hospitalized during the study period had received a placebo. Their subjects underestimated the pain relief provided by placebos and believed that a positive placebo response showed that the pain was psychogenic and not “real.” The few patients who were prescribed placebos tended to be those whom the staff most disliked. A few other studies published during the 1980s showed similar results.Fast forward now to 2010....