简介：
Great Expectations Heighten Placebo Effect
医生的态度强化安慰剂效应
Migraine patients who were told they were getting a real drug did better than those who got the same treatment but who were told they were getting a placebo.
对于那些以为自己服用了真实药物的人，“安慰剂效应”会更明显。
撰文/播音：辛西亚•格雷伯（Cynthia Graber）
翻译：李轩
The messages doctors give can influence some treatments’ effectiveness. For example, it seems that information from a doctor affects outcomes for migraine sufferers—whether they got a real drug or a placebo.
医生对病人说的话会影响治疗的效果，比如，偏头痛患者便会受此影响，无论他们吃下的是药还是安慰剂。
Researchers studied 66 people with recurring migraines over the course of seven attacks.
科学家研究了66位偏头痛反复发作患者的7次发病过程。
During the first headache, the patients received no treatment. For the next six, they were given either a placebo or a drug. Each time, regardless of which they got, some were told it was the drug, some were told it was the placebo, and the rest were informed that it could be either the drug or the placebo.
病人在第一次头痛时没有接受治疗，在接下来的6次里，他们分别服用了1粒安慰剂或者1粒药物。接下来，研究人员随机将患者分为3组：第1组的人认为他们服用的是药物，第2组的人认为他们服用的是安慰剂，第3组的患者则彻底蒙在鼓里。
Overall, the drug did work better than the placebo. But the placebo worked, too—both when the patients were told it was a placebo, and even better when the doctors told them that they were getting the drug. That is, when the docs set their expectations high.
总体来说，药物的疗效比安慰剂更好。但安慰剂也起了作用——无论患者认为他们吃下的是什么。并且，那些认为自己真的服下了药物的患者，治疗的效果更好，这也就是医生对治疗的效果有高期待的时候。
Meanwhile, the actual drug was least effective when the patients thought it was a placebo. The study is in the journal Science Translational Medicine. [Slavenka Kam-Hansen et al, Altered Placebo and Drug Labeling Changes the Outcome of Episodic Migraine Attacks]
同时，当病人以为自己服用了安慰剂时，即便他其实服用了药物，治疗的效果也会削弱。研究结果发表在了《科学医学转化》（Science Translational Medicine）期刊上。
The physician’s input thus plays a role in how migraine patients fare. Tell them they’re getting a good treatment, and they’re apparently more likely to respond.
因此，医生的态度在偏头痛治疗中起着重要作用。如果医生对治疗怀有信心，病人或许会好得更快。
（题图来源：Nick Veasey）
