Essay Sample on Placebo Effects Based on Personal Experience

Placebo is a case when a patient’s sickness can be cured by fake treatment, visibly because the patient believes that it would work. This is a very noteworthy face of the human physiology.

Placebo is derived from Latin, meaning “I shall please”.  Placebo has two related meanings, which are: (1) A substance containing no medication but prescribed or given to reinforce a patient’s expectation to get well; (2) An inactive substance or treatment used as a control in an experiment to test the effectiveness of a drug or medical treatment. (Mechanisms of Placebo Effects)

Experience:

I believe that Placebo effects do exist in real, whether we believe them or not. There are numerous examples and experiments conducted which have clearly indicated the Placebo effects.

I had a similar experience as well. Last year my young friend’s family and close relatives went on a picnic. There, instead of using a suntan lotion, their aunt suggested them to use her latest “magic pen” on their foreheads, which would protect against radiation. All the kids lined up, and her Aunt kept writing ad slogans and song titles on each one’s forehead. As the ink was transparent, no one had any idea what was written.

A few weeks later, her aunt asked all the kids regarding their experiences after the new style of sun tanning. Many kids had infact experienced a change in people’s attitude towards them. They reported that their peers and teachers seemed attracted towards them, and my friend noticed getting more and better attention from sales clerks.

It was only then when her Aunt had told them that she had infact written on just one of the kid’s foreheads, and the rest had gibberish written (with water!).

The effects of that were almost generally seen on all the kids. This was a very clear experience of Placebo effect, as all the kids were experiencing a changed attitude even tough they had no change in their appearance.