related somehow.....

[Peter_Puget]

According to a study published in last week’s JAMA, people given identical placebo pills reported greater pain relief from the one they were told was more expensive, reinforcing previous studies indicating that price impacts consumers’ perception. For the study, a group of researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology asked 82 volunteers to rate the intensity of electric shocks to their wrists before and after they had received a placebo. The participants were told that the drug was a new opioid painkiller that was faster acting than codeine (codeine sulfate) and received colorful brochures promoting the drug’s pain-relieving qualities. Previous studies have shown placebos alleviate mild to modest pain due to the release of endorphins from anticipating pain relief; however the scientists wanted to test how price influences the placebo effect. Half of the study participants were told that the opioid had a regular price of $2.50 a pill, while the other half was told the pill was discounted to only 10 cents. The researchers found that 85% of the participants who received the regular-priced pills reported feeling less pain compared with 61% of those who received the discounted pill. The lead study author contends, however, that greater enthusiasm from physicians about lower-priced medications may combat patients’ negative feelings and improve the effectiveness of such drugs

[StevenSeagal]

All I can say is, I must have gotten the placebo, because the electro shock to my balls hurt just as bad after as it did before.