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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants
Published on: December 14, 2014
Placebos: our most effective therapy?
Anne Holbrook1, Charlie Goldsmith
1Centre for Evaluation of Medicines, St Joseph's Hospital and McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
Abstract:
Placebos remain highly controversial therapies largely because of their widespread use in research as a comparator rather than a focus of analysis. While a recent systematic review of placebo versus no therapy arms in trials found no difference, the placebo effect in some areas of drug trial research is large and increasing. We attempt to explain this paradox and suggest how clinicians may use the placebo effect to advantage.
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