or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
35 used & new from $3.39
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Meaning, Medicine and the 'Placebo Effect' (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology)
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Meaning, Medicine and the 'Placebo Effect' (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Even fictional doctors know that their patient's attitudes and understanding of medicine and treatment are a fundamental part of the healing process..." (more)
Key Phrases: good adherers, poor adherers, inert medication, United States, Old Americans, Blessing Way (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
List Price: $28.99
Price: $21.97 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $7.02 (24%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Upgrade this book for $4.99 more, and you can read, search, and annotate every page online. See details
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Tuesday, November 24? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
22 new from $18.50 13 used from $3.39

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover, December 8, 2002 $67.73 $59.33 $77.36
  Paperback, November 17, 2002 $21.97 $18.50 $3.39

Frequently Bought Together

Meaning, Medicine and the 'Placebo Effect' (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology) + The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine + The Placebo Effect: An Interdisciplinary Exploration
Price For All Three: $58.58

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Meaning, Medicine and the 'Placebo Effect' (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology) by Daniel E. Moerman

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine by Anne Harrington

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Placebo Effect: An Interdisciplinary Exploration by Anne Harrington

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine

The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine

by Anne Harrington
4.7 out of 5 stars (11)  $11.53
The Placebo Effect: An Interdisciplinary Exploration

The Placebo Effect: An Interdisciplinary Exploration

by Anne Harrington
4.2 out of 5 stars (4)  $25.08
Social Lives of Medicines (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology)

Social Lives of Medicines (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology)

by Susan Reynolds Whyte
$27.99
Placebo: Mind over Matter in Modern Medicine

Placebo: Mind over Matter in Modern Medicine

by Dylan Evans
4.0 out of 5 stars (2)  $17.95
Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues

Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues

by Paul Farmer
4.1 out of 5 stars (9)  $15.61
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Daniel Moerman's Meaning, Medicine and the 'Placebo Effect' is a lucid, accessible look at the power doctors have to restore patients to health with placebos." London Review of Books

"[A]n interesting exploration of the placebo effect.... Recommended." Choice


Product Description

Traditionally, the effectiveness of medical treatments is attributed to specific elements, such as drugs or surgical procedures. However, many other factors can significantly effect the outcome. Drugs with nationally advertised names can work better than the same drug without the name. Inert drugs (placebos, dummies) often have dramatic effects on some patients and effects can vary greatly among different European countries where the "same" medical condition is understood differently. Daniel Moerman traverses a complex subject area in this detailed examination of medical variables. Since 1993, Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology has offered researchers and instructors monographs and edited collections of leading scholarship in one of the most lively and popular subfields of cultural and social anthropology. Beginning in 2002, the CSMA series presents theme booksworks that synthesize emerging scholarship from relatively new subfields or that reinterpret the literature of older ones. Designed as course material for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and for professionals in related areas (physicians, nurses, public health workers, and medical sociologists), these theme books will demonstrate how work in medical anthropology is carried out and convey the importance of a given topic for a wide variety of readers. About 160 pages in length, the theme books are not simply staid reviews of the literature. They are, instead, new ways of conceptualizing topics in medical anthropology that take advantage of current research and the growing edges of the field.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 186 pages
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press (November 18, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0521000874
  • ISBN-13: 978-0521000871
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #540,103 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #51 in  Books > Science > Medicine > Alternative & Holistic > Healing
    #51 in  Books > Professional & Technical > Medical > Alternative Medicine > Healing

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Daniel E. Moerman
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Daniel E. Moerman Page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Even fictional doctors know that their patient's attitudes and understanding of medicine and treatment are a fundamental part of the healing process. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
good adherers, poor adherers, inert medication, inert treatment, cultural biology, inert drugs, placebo analgesia, inert pills, oral placebo, meaning response, placebo responders, sham surgery, placebo effect
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Old Americans, Blessing Way, Second World War, Fabrizio Benedetti, Robert Hahn, Ton de Craen
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 52 books:
See all 52 books this book cites
 
1 book cites this book:

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Meaning, Medicine and the 'Placebo Effect' (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology)
70% buy the item featured on this page:
Meaning, Medicine and the 'Placebo Effect' (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology) 4.5 out of 5 stars (2)
$21.97
Placebo Effects: Understanding the mechanisms in health and disease
11% buy
Placebo Effects: Understanding the mechanisms in health and disease 4.0 out of 5 stars (1)
$53.95
Placebo: Mind over Matter in Modern Medicine
8% buy
Placebo: Mind over Matter in Modern Medicine 4.0 out of 5 stars (2)
$17.95
The Placebo Response and the Power of Unconscious Healing
7% buy
The Placebo Response and the Power of Unconscious Healing 5.0 out of 5 stars (5)
$32.00
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(2)
(1)
Agree with these tags?

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Meaning, not placebo: Moerman gets it right!, March 20, 2003
As a family physician and behavioral scientist with strong interest in the "placebo effect", I can say without reservation that this is one of the best all-around reviews available. The "placebo paradox" has confounded reductionist thinkers for decades: if there is nothing in the pill, then how can it cause health effects? Dan Moerman doesn't have to take us far out of the conventional box to show that - of course - it isn't the inert pills, but instead the meanings attached with them that have influenced outcomes in so many scientific experiments. Meaning, belief and understanding govern how we think and feel, which in turn effect our physical and psychological health. Empty colored pills, sham surgery and suggestion lead to real health effects, even under the most rigorous of settings: randomized, double-blind, controlled trials. While reasonably comprehensive and highly accurate, this book is also accessible, as it is written with a style and flair that should prove attractive to most readers. Highly recommended it is!

Bruce Barrett MD PhD
Department of Family Medicine
University of Wisconsin - Madison

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The meaning response, December 24, 2004
By David J. Kreiter (Iowa City, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Daniel Moerman places the words "Placebo effect" in quotations because he believes that the placebo effect should be redefined. A placebo, he explains is inert. It has no causal effect. A more appropriate definition of the placebo effect he asserts is the "meaning response."

It is because of our beliefs and the meaning we assocate with a placebo that determines its effectiveness. Despite this simple formula for determining who will respond to a placebo, it is not a very good predictor for a given individual at a given time. Studies show that there is no method to determine which individuals will respond to a placebo. Attempts have been made to remove placebo responders from studies. Occasionally, researchers will conduct a precursor trial run with a completely unrelated substance to indentify those who might respond to a placebo in an effort to cull these responders from the "real study". These attempts have been futile.

No reliable indicators have ever been found that identify individual placebo responders. In fact, a person who responds to a placebo in one study has no increased likely hood of responding to a placebo in subsequent studies. More remarkably, if one eliminates the approximately one third of the populace who initially respond to a given placebo, the remaining group will contain about the same proportion of responders in subsequent studies.

Moerman never makes the connection between these facts and the parallels to natual physical laws at the quantum level. And though they might be only coincidental, I think it worth the comparisons.

Note that a placebo has no causal effect, but instead it is meaning that determines the "effect" of a placebo. The late physicist David Bohm asserted that the entire universe is organized at all levels according to meaning. If this is true, then it substantiates Moerman's claim that meaning is operating at the macro level. But the similarites to physical law don't end here.

Moerman observed that when placebo responders are eliminated from a group, the same statistical relationships hold for the remainder of the group--approximately one third of the remaining group will still be responders in the next study.

Simlarities can be drawn with quantum processes such as the jump of the electron in orbit around the nucleus of an atom or the well-known process of nuclear decay. If one knows the half-life of a mass, it is possible to calculate exacly what proportion of the substance will remain after a given amount of time, yet nothng can be said about the transmutaion of any given atom. Divide the mass into two portions, and the half-life of each portion remains the same. As Moerman has shown this is exacly what we witness in placebo studies. It is possible to calculate statistically how many in a group will respond, but nothing can be said about which specific individuals will respond. In both cases, whether dealing with the placebo responders or nuclear decay, the process is determinate for the whole, but indeterminate for the individual person or particle. I have previously described this as a law--"nature conserves meaning".

Moerman documents many studies involving placebos from around the world. He notes that cultural differences, knowledge, and the practitioner all statistically contribute to the meaning response. In particular, it has been demonstrated that the character and personality of the physician has more to do with the outcome of placebo studies than the make up of the patient. Moerman contends that a positive and upbeat clinician or doctor transmits subltle cues to the patient making for a more positive outcome. He states that it is what the doctor "knows" that is important. If the doctor believes his patient has a possibility of getting a powerful drug, patients will do better than if he knows they will only be getting a placebo. The conclusion is sound, but the mechanism, I believe is dubious. I'm doubtful that some sort of "subtle" cues are passed onto the patient in such a consistent mannner. I wonder if it is reasonable once again to find the answer in physical law.

In the famous "double-slit" or "two-hole" experiments, it has been demonstrated that an "observer" is not necessary to change the behavior of particles. In fact, it is the mere possibility that the path or route of the particle can be determined at some point in the future that determines the outcome of the experiment. In experiments done by Marlan Scully at the Universtity of California at Berkeley it was found that it is our knowledge that determines the behavior of particles

"...It is our "potential" knowledge of the quantum system , not our actual knowledge that helps decide the outcome" (Davis, 1996).

Of course these associations with quantum processes are merely conjecture.

Daniel Moerman's book is well documented and it is obvious that much research went into this publication. If one wants a sound understanding of the placebo effect, or the "meaning response", this book is the one to read. Well done.

This book review by David Kreiter, author of "Quantum Reality: a New Philosophical Perspective".
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:






















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.