[Placebo, culture and magic]

Modern medicine relays, as never before, on scientific foundations for its therapeutic endeavors. Nevertheless we detect a tremendous dissatisfaction among the people, a quasi irrational fear to ingesting medication in some, and a deterioration in the doctor-patient relationship. The placebo effect, the mainstay of this relationship is no longer favorable, in too many instances. This article defines the various types of placebo and very specially the negative placebo. It up-dates its concept, it reviews possible mechanisms of actions and undertakes an effort to place the placebo in its proper place in contemporary medicine. It also explores the cultural milieu and the undercurrent magical thinking since both of this provide the framework for the placebogenic phenomena.