The Placebo Effect: Mind Over Matter? How do we know that certain things have the effect that they purport to have? It is possible that many of these effects can be attributed to something called the placebo effect. A placebo effect usually refers to a medical treatment that deceives patients into thinking that the treatment will provide positive results but the medication actually does not have the agents to provide the desired change. For instance, a doctor may recommend a patient to consume a specific brand of sugar pills every morning in order to combat the afflictions Read the rest of this entry