Insight: Feb 23

This week on SBS, Insight explores placebos and asks if your health is all in your head?

You’re given a painkiller for your headache, and it goes away.

It’s then revealed that all you took was a sugar pill. Why did this happen and how do you feel about it? Do you feel deceived by your doctor, or impressed by the power of the human brain?

This week, Insight delves deep into the world of placebos to ask how much of your health is all in your head.

Meet a man who ran faster thinking he was using an EPO-like substance, only to find out he was simply injecting saline; and a woman who used her knowledge of the placebo effect to heal herself.

The program also asks how the medical field navigates the ethics of placebos, which rely largely on deception, and how GPs use the placebo effect in everyday practice.

Join award-winning host Jenny Brockie as Insight examines the remarkable, and at times inexplicable, impacts of placebos.

Guests include:

Ben Colagiuri
Ben Colagiuri is one of Australia’s leading placebo researchers who says the power of placebo lies in expectancy. “When somebody believes that a treatment is going to lead to a health outcome … they get better simply because of the belief they were going to improve.”

David Neil
As a bioethicist, David Neil disagrees with the use of placebos. “When you’re studying the placebo effect, you have to do that with deception. You can’t tell people about (the aim of the study) … by what right do you decide that you’re going to experiment on some people without their consent?”

Bryan Lamb
Bryan took part in an amateur running study, where he was required to self-inject a performance-enhancing substance. Over several weeks in the trial, Bryan’s running times improved. “I (saw) an improvement of around 14 seconds overall … when you stopped taking the drug, you were suddenly Superman who lost his powers.”

After the trial however, Bryan found out the substance was simply saline. “I was totally shocked, absolutely because I was so convinced with the entire trial.”

Charlotte Hespe
Charlotte Hespe is a GP who sees the placebo effect in everyday practice, particularly when it comes to anti-depressant use. “There is no conclusive body of evidence proving the effectiveness of antidepressants … If you look at the controlled trials of antidepressants, there’s not always a huge difference in the placebo, versus the medication”.

Tuesday at 8.30pm on SBS.