#I'm not without sympathy for people selected for placebo treatment but does that make the entire practice morally unethical???

[buckttommy]

I hate my psychology textbook all the time since it reeks of self-publication (complete with typographical errors, citation of questionable studies [meaning: studies of less than 200 participants], and the author divorcing himself from the book itself), but the idea that groups that receive a placebo are morally unethical based on the grounds of "if we can help people with the authentic treatment, why give them a fake one instead of the real one? :(" is actually so braindead it makes me WEEP.

#jack's college adventures #I hate this textbook #In all fairness #not everything in the book is bad/inaccurate/etc and there are a lot of truths interspersed with the... questionable material #but geeze man #Yes okay I agree that case studies that deal in placebo treatments are complicated. I get that. #Human lives are at stake and the random selection of who gets to be helped and who doesn't is messy and complicated and sad at times #(especially if such treatment is potentially lifesaving treatment) #but studies are how lives are saved!! Studies are necessary to understand science and efficacy etc #I'm not without sympathy for people selected for placebo treatment but does that make the entire practice morally unethical??? #No it does not !!!