Hope helps: placebos and alternative medicine in rheumatology

Most clinicians recognize that emphatic listening is not always enough for patients and that many are comforted by a more tangible sign of help. Pills provide a comforting ritual, and although words should be more important than pills, placebos, rightly given, remind physicians and nurses that we are treating human beings even as they reassure patients that doctors are more than vending machines of techniques. For the physician, there should be no split between mainstream and complementary alternatives, for the benefits of empathy and communication may sometimes prove as great as those from pills and portions.