Super Pill is Less Effective than an Ordinary Mint in Altering Subjective Psychological Feeling States within a Few Minutes, Szabo et al, 2018

Indigophoton · May 17, 2018

Abstract
Expectations shape human behavior. Initial drug use might be associated with information-based expectations. In this study, we presumed that changes in affect and perceived physical wellbeing will be stronger after receiving an active placebo (Tic Tac mint; n = 40), than a pure placebo (inert pill; n = 40) given as a mood-enhancing "super pill."

After baseline measures, participants completed a treatment-expectancy scale, ingested the mint/super pill, and attended to the effects over 3-minutes. Subsequently, they completed again the psychological tests. Expectancy scores were positive and did not differ between the groups.

The pure placebo group increased in physical wellbeing but less than the active placebo group, which also showed an increase in positive affect. Negative affect decreased in both groups. The Tic Tac produced greater affective changes than the pure placebo. Since these are new findings on the ultra-short placebo effects on affect, the results might have relevance for drug-use studies.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29768130?dopt=Abstract

Conclusions
Despite certain limitations, the current study shows that the ingestion of an
unknown pill, accompanied by reassuring positive instructions, yields lesser acute
psychological effects than a commonly known mint, like the Tic Tac. Positive psy-
chological effects of both active and pure placebos emerged in only 3 minutes, which
is new information that may reveal how positive messages associated with a cer-
tain product, in addition to sensory experiences associated with that product, could
have an instant rewarding effect to the individual. Similar studies using compara-
ble agents with similar sensory characteristics are needed in the future. The cur-
rent study also revealed that safety-reassurance and extremely positive information-
priming, has little- or no effect on the ingestion of an unknown pill that may have
relevance to certain drug, like NPS, prevention interventions. To fine tune this chan-
nel of research, future studies should manipulate the type of information (very pos-
itive / very negative) associated with the ingestion of an unknown pill in addition to
employing identical agents with similar sensory and perceptual characteristics.
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Full paper here, http://sci-hub.tw/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00221309.2018.1459454

https://twitter.com/user/status/997196588039720960

Alvin · May 17, 2018

This has been known for generations and has also been proven before.
That said depression responds to placebos at high rates, you would think its psychosomatic if we didn't know better

Invisible Woman · May 17, 2018

Despite certain limitations, the current study shows that the ingestion of an unknown pill, accompanied by reassuring positive instructions, yields lesser acute psychological effects than a commonly known mint, like the Tic Tac.
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Right. Now how many of us here would take an unknown pill regardless of the positive instructions?

If someone was trying to get me to take something and being encouraging and cheering me on I would most likely suggest they take it themselves. ( Then I can observe closely)

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Super Pill is Less Effective than an Ordinary Mint in Altering Subjective Psychological Feeling States within a Few Minutes, Szabo et al, 2018

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