Placebo Effect

A placebo is a non-medication, or inactive treatment that is used to satisfy a patient's psychological need for medicine. In other words, just the act of taking a pill may be enough to make some people feel better: the so-called placebo effect.A new study finds that the placebo effect actually alters brain activity.The study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry is the first of its kind to suggest that patients with major depression who receive placebos experience changes in brain function similar to changes caused by medication. After nine weeks, patients were classified as being medication responders, placebo responders, or non-responders to either medication or placebos.Placebo responders showed more activity in the prefrontal cortex while medication responders showed less activity. Additionally, the decrease in depression with the placebo was the same as the the improvement with medication.

The above clip is from a show that i used to watch when i was younger. As you will see, the character is given "sugar pills", but thinks that they are pills that make him study harder. Hope you enjoy the clip.