Oh yes, I should have been clear that I meant OTC stuff. Like them Flintstones chewables. I knew a guy that went on a crazy bender once and got beri-beri, who was given the kind of vitamins you describe. It's a good thing those kind aren't so readily available, as I'm sure they'd be misused. I am all for lucky rabbit's feet if they make people feel better, provided they don't go around disputing science because of it. For example, my uncle is a Born Again bishop, who insists that he cast a demon out of my cousin. But, from his description, it really just sounds like she was really badly feverish and then the fever broke. If praying had merely made him feel better about my cousin getting over being sick, I'd be ok with that (if he'd also taken her to a doctor).
This is where I tend to lose the /r/skeptic crowd - "Placebo effect" includes the word "effect." Ariely spends a good chapter on it. Take two placebos and tell your subject that one of them costs 10 cents per pill. Now tell him that the other placebo costs 10 dollars per pill. Both of them are placebo. The more "expensive" one is a better placebo. Different cultures respond better to different procedures: Germans love shots, for some reason. Americans like pills. It's a real, measurable, quantifiable effect. Your uncle didn't cast a demon out of your cousin. And yeah - the fever probably broke. but if your cousin truly believed your uncle, your uncle's mumbo-jumbo may damn well have helped the fever break. There's a reason every culture humanity has ever fostered has witch doctors and shamen. They work. Not as well as legit medicine generally, but better than nothing. And in this country, we dismissively tuck that into "bedside manner."
There's a reason every culture humanity has ever fostered has witch doctors and shamen. They work. Not as well as legit medicine generally, but better than nothing. And in this country, we dismissively tuck that into "bedside manner." No arguments there; the power of belief is something that is often scorned in the US. Why discard a tool when one is available?Your uncle didn't cast a demon out of your cousin. And yeah - the fever probably broke. but if your cousin truly believed your uncle, your uncle's mumbo-jumbo may damn well have helped the fever break.