A Fictionalist Account of Open-Label Placebo

Authors: Hardman, D.

Journal: The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: a forum for bioethics and philosophy of medicine

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISSN: 0360-5310

DOI: 10.1093/jmp/jhae008

Abstract:

The placebo effect is now generally defined widely as an individual’s response to the psychosocial context of a clinical treatment, as distinct from the treatment’s characteristic physiological effects. Some researchers, however, argue that such a wide definition leads to confusion and misleading implications. In response, they propose a narrow definition restricted to the therapeutic effects of deliberate placebo treatments. Within the framework of modern medicine, such a scope currently leaves one viable placebo treatment paradigm: the non-deceptive and non-concealed administration of “placebo pills” or open-label placebo (OLP) treatment. In this paper, I consider how the placebo effect occurs in OLP. I argue that a traditional, belief-based account of OLP is paradoxical. Instead, I propose an account based on the non-doxastic attitude of pretence, understood within a fictionalist framework.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/39644/

Source: Manual

A fictionalist account of open-label placebo

Authors: Hardman, D.

Journal: The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISSN: 0360-5310

Abstract:

The placebo effect is now generally defined widely as an individual’s response to the psychosocial context of a clinical treatment, as distinct from the treatment’s characteristic physiological effects. Some researchers, however, argue that such a wide definition leads to confusion and misleading implications. In response, they propose a narrow definition restricted to the therapeutic effects of deliberate placebo treatments. Within the framework of modern medicine, such a scope currently leaves one viable placebo treatment paradigm: the non-deceptive and non-concealed administration of “placebo pills” or open-label placebo (OLP) treatment. In this paper, I consider how the placebo effect occurs in OLP. I argue that a traditional, belief-based account of OLP is paradoxical. Instead, I propose an account based on the non-doxastic attitude of pretence, understood within a fictionalist framework.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/39644/

Source: BURO EPrints