Treating Parkinson’s Disease: Brain Surgery and the Placebo Effect | National Geographic

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all right moment of truth goal we’re
going to drill a hole in your skull now
the drill is very loud it’s loud to us
but to you it can be super loud it will
mount her so good
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all right yeah you remember an elite
club very few people can say they’ve had
a hole drilled in their skull over our
way we’re going to open up that covering
of your branch if there’s anything
inside okay Roberta when you start to
offer patients very powerful treatments
that you’re going to introduce
expectation of benefit when you
introduce expectation of benefit
then comes the placebo effect all right
so we’re just going to take a listen to
your brain okay
when patients expect to get better they
oftentimes get it out of either three
green lights there and one there can you
put that down I’m not trying to use a
placebo to trick a patient into getting
better not completely already to do
quite a bit but I want to do anything I
can to improve this patients quality of
life
so if placebo enters into that in a
positive way I embrace the better can
you snap your fingers for me first I’m
worried let me know if you feel anything
okay it’s not a magical thing the ruther
is not magic almost he’s got to show you
back up it’s another part of the brain
that is producing a beneficial effect
that is not directly related to our
treatment take another one
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