Eebo Plus, the first honest placebo

The potential: feel better with placebo treatment

When it comes to feeling better, it's hard to beat the placebo effect. Famous for being the standard that medical treatments have to beat, placebos can be so effective that many doctors actually prescribe them.^[4a] According to Dr. Curtis E. Margo in his 1999 paper,^[20a]

The placebo effect may be one of the most versatile and underused therapeutic tools at the disposal of physicians.

The problem: placebos are deceptive

Although the placebo effect is real and has therapeutic potential^[2a], traditional placebos:

• Lie about what they are.
• Take credit for the results that the patients generate themselves.
• Deprive patients of their right to informed consent.

The answer: Eebo Plus, the first honest placebo

Recent clinical trials^{[8a] [5a]} have made a surprising discovery: patients can experience the placebo effect even when they know that they are using a placebo. This full-disclosure regimen is what we call honest placebo, an educated, honest pathway to the placebo effect.

Eebo Plus is the world's first honest placebo product. It brings together this educational website, the Eebo Plus mobile app, and a Facebook community of like-minded individuals to help you and your doctor unlock your potential to experience the placebo effect.

The Eebo Plus app is available on Android smartphones. The iPhone version is in development.

You can Like the Eebo Plus Facebook page and visit the Eebo Plus Success Stories Facebook group.

Millions of people are deceived by placebos every day, yet they feel better through the mental process of the placebo effect. If you want the effect, but you are too smart to be tricked by the deceptions, then you should use Eebo Plus.

The science of placebo

Abstract

The medical literature provides ample evidence of the human body's many self-healing capacities and the brain's influence on them. Our analysis finds widespread agreement that patients who believe in a placebo and have high expectations of it are much more likely to experience the effects.

Humphrey (2000) proposes that the placebo effect is tied to primitive brain functions that subconsciously respond to feelings of hope versus despair. The idea is that a patient who is hopeful of her prognosis is probably not facing immediate threats to her life that require her to be in full fight-or-flight mode. It is evident that a strong belief in the promise of an effective cure can be sufficient to generate the placebo effect.

We are convinced that the empirical evidence for the placebo effect is so strong that patients can form strong, hope-inspiring expectations for a placebo based on its merits as a placebo.

Placebo effect defined

In his 2000 keynote lecture at the International Congress of Psychology, Professor Nicholas Humphrey explained the placebo effect thus:^[1b]

Let's say, then, that a placebo is a treatment which, while not being effective through its direct action on the body, works when and because:

• the patient is aware that the treatment is being given
• the patient has a certain belief in the treatment …
• the patient's belief leads her to expect that, following this treatment, she is likely to get better
• the expectation influences her capacity for self-cure, so as to hasten the very result that she expects.

How common are placebo effects, so defined? The surprising truth seems to be that they are everywhere.

See the rest of Humphrey's lecture for his explanation of how the generic human emotions of hope and despair appear to be the signals to which the brain's healing capacities respond.^[1a]

In this video, Sean Mackey, chief of Stanford's Pain Management Division, explains the placebo effect. (Stanford made this video publicly viewable; our link to it does not represent an endorsement of our product by Stanford or Dr. Mackey.)

Placebo effect observed

These are just some of the many clinical observations of the placebo effect:

In their 2009 paper on placebo for pain, Eippert and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging to observe that "pain-related activity in the spinal cord is strongly reduced under placebo."^[16a]

In their 1986 double-blind controlled study of placebo ultrasound therapy for pain and inflammation, Hashish and colleagues reported that "The majority of the anti-inflammatory activity was attributable to the placebo effect".^[21a]

In their 2007 experiment on placebo for pain endurance and physical performance in sport, Benedetti and colleagues wrote that the "morphine-like effects of placebos" could be considered a "doping procedure" in sports competitions.^[22a]

In their 1957 clinical trial of placebos for rheumatoid arthritis pain, Traut and Passarelli reported that "about 82 percent of patients improve - enough to justify the continuation of placebo administration."^[13a]

In their 1986 study of placebo for angina pectoris pain, Boissel and colleageus wrote that "In 27 [of 35] patients, the placebo treatment was said to be a success."^[14a]

In their 2008 analysis of placebo for depression, Kirsch and colleagues found that "The response to placebo in these trials was exceptionally large, duplicating more than 80% of the improvement observed in the drug groups."^[25a]

In their 1997 analysis of placebo for generalized anxiety, Schweizer and Rickels noted that "The development of new treatments … has been sabotaged by a high placebo-response rate. As a consequence … only one new anxiolytic has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the past 15 years."^[10a]

In their 2007 study of placebo for sexual dysfunction, Bradford and Meston found "a significant improvement in sexual function scores after 8 weeks of treatment with placebo."^[12a]

In their 1988 studies of placebo for panic disorder, Coryell and Noyes reported that "one in four markedly improved."^[15a]

In their 2006 paper on placebo and the immune system, Pacheco-Lopez and colleagues wrote that "placebo effects can benefit end organ functioning and the overall health of the individual through positive expectations and behavioral conditioning processes."^[17a]

In their 2007 investigation of placebos for asthma, Kemeny and colleagues state that their article "confirms the existence of a strong placebo response in an objective and clinically relevant measure of disease activity."^[11a]

In their 2001 paper on placebo and Parkinsons's disease, de la Fuente-Fernandez and colleagues wrote that "Our findings indicate that the placebo effect in PD is powerful and is mediated through activation of the damaged nigrostriatal dopamine system."^[18a]

In their 2005 analysis of placebo across various disorders, Wampold and colleagues wrote that "when disorders are amenable to placebos and the design is adequate to detect the effects, the placebo effect is robust and approaches the treatment effect."^[9a]

Clearly, many people have the capacity to experience the placebo effect.

Expectations and conditioning

Hope-raising expectations are critical to the success of a placebo, and patients can enhance their expectations through conditioning. A 1997 experiment by Montgomery and Kirsch found that while "conditioning trials significantly enhanced placebo responding", the response was "mediated completely by expectancy."^[23a] Thus, conditioning appears to enhance placebos by further increasing patients' expectations.

Encouragement

In his 1987 study of whether positive and non-positive manners affect patient outcomes, KB Thomas found that "there was a significant difference in patient satisfaction between the positive and negative groups but not between the treated and untreated groups."^[19a] It is evident that interpersonal relationships and feelings of trust, compassion, and reassurance can lead to placebo effects.

References

These are the sources that convinced us that our placebo can work without deception. As advocates of honest placebo we recommend that you read these sources yourself. We believe that the more you know about the science and evidence of the placebo effect, the more likely you are to be convinced that it will work for you.

Please note: This site describes and quotes the medical literature for informational purposes only. We do not state or imply that any of the referenced authors endorse this site or our product.

1. Nicholas Humphrey. (2002) The Mind Made Flesh. Oxford University Press. [Ch. 19 excerpt from author's website] Notes: [a] p. 13 of the Ch. 19 excerpt. [b] p. 2 of Ch. 19 excerpt.
2. Damien G Finniss, Ted J Kaptchuk, Franklin Miller, and Fabrizio Benedetti. (2010) Placebo Effects: Biological, Clinical and Ethical Advances. Lancet 375(9715): 686-695. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61706-2 [PubMed] Notes: [a] §Conclusions.
3. placebo effect. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved April 02, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/placebo effect
4. Tilburt JC, Emanuel EJ, Kaptchuk TJ, Curlin FA, Miller FG. (2008) Prescribing "placebo treatments": results of national survey of US internists and rheumatologists. BMJ 337:a1938. doi:10.1136/bmj.a1938. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract§Conclusions.
5. Aulas JJ, Rosner I. (2003) [Efficacy of a non blind placebo prescription] Encephale 29(1):68-71. [PubMed] Notes: [a]
6. Rebecca L. Waber, Baba Shiv, Ziv Carmon, Dan Ariely. (2008) Commercial Features of Placebo and Therapeutic Efficacy. JAMA 299(9):1016-1017. doi:10.1001/jama.299.9.1016 [JAMA]
7. E. Ernst and K. L. Resch. (1995) Concept of true and perceived placebo effects. BMJ 311(7004): 551-553. [PubMed] Notes: [a] p. 552.
8. Kaptchuk TJ, Friedlander E, Kelley JM, Sanchez MN, Kokkotou E, et al. (2010) Placebos without Deception: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. PLoS ONE 5(12): e15591. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015591 [PubMed] Notes: [a]
9. Wampold BE, Minami T, Tierney SC, Baskin TW, Bhati KS. (2005) The placebo is powerful: estimating placebo effects in medicine and psychotherapy from radomized clinical trials. Journal of Clinical Psychology 61(7):835-54 [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
10. Schweizer E, Rickels K. (1997) Placebo response in generalized anxiety: its effect on the outcome of clinical trials. Journal of Clinical Psychology 58 Suppl 11:30-8. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
11. Kemeny ME, Rosenwasser LJ, Panettieri RA, Rose RM, Berg-Smith SM, Kline JN. (2007) Placebo response in asthma: a robust and objective phenomenon. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 119(6):1375-81. Epub 2007 Apr 23. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
12. Bradford A, Meston C. (2007) Correlates of placebo response in the treatment of sexual dysfunction in women; a preliminary report. J Sex Med. 4(5):1345-51. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
13. Traut EF, Passarelli EW. (1957) Placebos in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatic conditions. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 16(1): 18-22. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Summary. [b] p. 20.
14. Boissel JP, Philippon AM, Gauthier E, Schbath J, Destors JM. (1986) Time course of long-term placebo therapy effects in angina pectoris. Eur Heart Journal 7(12):1030-6. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
15. Coryell W, Noyes R. (1988) Placebo response in panic disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 145(9):1138-40. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
16. Eippert F, Finsterbusch J, Bingel U, Burchel C. (2009) Direct evidence for spinal cord involvement in placebo analgesia. Science 326(5951):404. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
17. Pacheco-Lopez G, Engler H, Niemi MB, Schedlowski M. (2006) Expectations and associations that heal: Immunomodulatory placebo effects and its neurobiology. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 20(5):430-46. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
18. de la Fuente-Fernandez R, Ruth TJ, Sossi V, Schulzer M, Calne DB, Stoessl AJ. (2001) Expectation and dopamine release: mechanism of the placebo effect in Parkinson's disease. Science 293(5532):1164-6. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
19. Thomas KB. (1987) General practice consultations: is there any point in being positive? British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition) 294(6581):1200-2. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
20. Margo CE. (1999) The placebo effect. Survey of Ophthalmology 44(1):31-44. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
21. Hashish I, Harvey W, Harris M. (1986) Anti-inflammatory effects of ultrasound therapy: evidence for a major placebo effect. British Journal of Rheumatology 25(1):77-81. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
22. Fabrizio Benedetti, Antonella Pollo, Luana Colloca. (2007) Journal of Neuroscience 27(44):11934-11939. Opioid-Mediated Placebo Responses Boost Pain Endurance and Physical Performance: Is it Doping in Sport Competitions? [JNeuroscience] Notes: [a] Abstract. [c] Abstract.
23. Montgomery GH, Kirsch I. (1997) Classical conditioning and the placebo effect. Pain 72(1-2):107-13. [PubMed] Notes: [a] Abstract.
24. Opinion 8.083 (2007) American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics (Accessed online April 20, 2011). [AMA] Notes: [a]
25. Kirsch I, Deacon BJ, Huedo-Medina TB, Scoboria A, Moore TJ, et al. (2008) Initial Severity and Antidepressant Benefits: A Meta-Analysis of Data Submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. PLoS Med 5(2): e45. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045 [PLoS Medicine] Notes: [a]
26. Federal Trade Commission, Office of Public Affairs (September 8, 2011) Release: "Acne Cure" Mobile App Marketers Will Drop Baseless Claims Under FTC Settlements. Federal Trade Commission website at ftc.gov. (Accessed online September 9, 2011). [FTC] Notes: [a]
27. A Branthwaite, P Cooper (1981) Analgesic effects of branding in treatment of headaches. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 282 : 1576 doi: 10.1136/bmj.282.6276.1576 (Published 16 May 1981) [BMJ] Notes: [a]

Eebo Plus for athletic performance enhancement

As a competitive athlete pushing through pain, you are already an expert at working with your trainer and doctor to monitor your health and mitigate your symptoms without violating the drug guidelines of your sport. You simply need to know the unique value that Eebo Plus provides: Eebo Plus is totally drug-free.

Eebo Plus is a drug-free addition to your workout

As the first honest placebo, Eebo Plus lets you and your doctor work together to help you benefit from placebo treatment. With completely informed consent, your doctor can recommend that you follow the innovative, brand-name regimen of Eebo Plus to help you lessen your perceived pain through the placebo effect. In fact, your doctor can truthfully tell you that it is quite possible that you may experience significant relief from an Eebo Plus inspired placebo effect. Although we explain that fact as well as we can, we know that it helps to hear it straight from a trusted professional.

Unlock the drug-free potential of honest placebo

Eebo Plus is the placebo treatment that can enhance your doctor's game as well as yours. Tell your doctor about Eebo Plus today and see whether you can experience pain relief and improved performance through the placebo effect.

Eebo Plus for chronic pain

If you are suffering from chronic pain you don't need us to educate you about consulting with your doctor, being proactive in your treatment, and thinking positively; you are already doing that expertly. You simply need to know the unique value that Eebo Plus provides: Eebo Plus is the first honest placebo, which means that your doctor can ethically prescribe it to you and help you use it.

Eebo Plus is the ethical placebo prescription

Your doctor already knows that there is a good chance that a traditional placebo will make you feel better and that it might even improve your current medical treatment. However, the deception can be dangerous. For example, you might not seek professional medical care if you mistakenly think that you are already taking an active medication. Even in a clinical setting, the American Medical Association code of ethics^[24a] states that

the use of a placebo without the patient's knowledge may undermine trust, compromise the patient-physician relationship, and result in medical harm to the patient.

Eebo Plus avoids these ethical problems, letting you and your doctor work together to help you benefit from placebo treatment. With completely informed consent, your doctor can recommend that you add the innovative, brand-name quality of Eebo Plus to your medical treatment. In fact, your doctor can truthfully tell you that it is quite possible that you may experience significant relief from an Eebo Plus inspired placebo effect. Although we explain that fact as well as we can, we know that it helps to hear it straight from a trusted professional.

Unlock the potential of ethically prescribed placebo

Eebo Plus is the placebo treatment that both you and your doctor can feel good about. Tell your doctor about Eebo Plus today and see whether you can experience increased relief through the placebo effect.

Eebo Plus features and benefits

A traditional placebo is a promising story that works because:

• It tricks you into believing deceptive remedy claims.
• Authoritative recommendations and testimonials give it credibility.
• Repetition makes it common knowledge.
• Physical devices such as sugar pills let it mimic real treatments.
• Rituals keep it fresh in your mind.

Eebo Plus works for the same reasons except that, instead of making deceptive remedy claims, it makes truthful claims about the placebo effect itself.

Full disclosure: truth can outperform fiction

Drs. Traut and Passarelli observed that deceptive placebos are easy to break:^[13b]

A patient showing progressive improvement on placebo injections was sent to a nursing home, and the nurse in charge indignantly refused to administer the helpful saline injections, telling the patient, "Why, it is just salt water!"

Being fully informed means that you get:

• Stability – You know that you are using a placebo; no one can pop your bubble by stating this fact.
• Empowerment – You know that you are the source of the results that you experience.
• Self-determination – You decide if and when to use wishful thinking to increase your expectations.
• Personal integrity – You do not have to defend or promote lies.

Leading brand name: it pays to be first

Eebo Plus is the world's first honest placebo product, and our customers can proudly claim to be among the first people to deliberately pursue the placebo effect.

The strong Eebo Plus brand is critical because branding appears to supplement the effects of both active medications and placebos^[27a]. We designed the Eebo Plus brand to be as memorable and evocative as possible, and we back it with an innovative, honest, high quality product.

Since Eebo Plus is the archetype of the full-disclosure placebo, every related news story, discussion, or me-too product reinforces and enhances the Eebo Plus brand, which reinforces and enhances the experience of Eebo Plus customers.

Early adoption fosters community

The Eebo Plus community understands that you have real symptoms that deserve all the relief that you can deploy. You and other members of the community can help each other find that relief. These are some of the reasons to join our Facebook group and share your Eebo Plus success story:

• Help the community – Your success story makes it easier for other members to believe that they, too, can succeed.
• Advance science and medicine – Your success story helps to confirm the honest placebo hypothesis.
• Help yourself – The simple act of helping others can make you feel better. Plus, other members' success stories can encourage you; it's a win-win situation.

Our customers are trailblazers who, by example, make it easier for others to embrace the concept and succeed. New success stories give both new and current customers even more reason to raise their expectations, which should lead to even more success stories in a positive feedback loop.

More than a pill

According to Ernst and Resch's review^[7a], devices sometimes elicit better responses than pills. Therefore, the Eebo Plus app utilizes a device – your smartphone – to implement a virtual pill-taking regimen with realistic imagery and haptic feedback.

Coincidental conditioning

Only your doctor should perform classical conditioning, so Eebo Plus provides an alternative activity, called coincidental conditioning, which does not require a doctor. With coincidental conditioning you physically and mentally associate spontaneous good moments with the placebo. It works like this: when you feel better – for whatever reason – you record that moment in the Eebo Plus app. Over time, you will accumulate a track record of feel-good memories that you associate with the app.

Commitment-reinforcing tasks

Actions speak louder than words, even when you are speaking with yourself. The actions that you take – such as seeing a doctor, reading this site, running the Eebo Plus app, and letting the evidence convince you – provide strong signals to yourself and to others that you are doing something about your symptoms. No one can accuse you of not trying.

No deceptive advertising

The beauty of Eebo Plus is that we can highlight the fact that it is a placebo. A novel, innovative, and honest placebo to be sure, yet a placebo nonetheless.

We believe that doctors should be healthcare professionals, not advertisers. We are skeptical of the doctors who pitch products on TV and the internet, and we suspect that you are, too. Indeed, the Federal Trade Commission has started bringing cases against doctor-endorsed mobile apps that make unsubstantiated health claims.^[26a] Therefore, instead of paying some doctor to tell you that our product is great, we invite you to ask your own doctor for his or her opinion.

If you haven't done so already, we invite you to read this excellent article by the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration ("Miracle" Health Claims: Add a Dose of Skepticism).

Made in America

Eebo Plus was conceived and developed in California by folks who tell it like it is. We are not doctors. We are big fans of doctors and science-based medicine, and we strongly urge you to seek your doctor's opinion before taking ours. In fact, we invite you to tell your doctor about Eebo Plus. Doctors already know the potential of placebo. Now, for the first time, they can ethically prescribe placebo treatment with Eebo Plus.

How to use Eebo Plus

You increase your chances of experiencing the placebo effect if you believe in a placebo and have high expectations of the results. We are convinced that the scientific case for the placebo effect is so strong and compelling that you should be rightly convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the placebo effect is real, has reasonable explanations, can be achieved, and depends on how you think about it. We are confident that you will find Eebo Plus to be a carefully designed service that leverages your understanding without deceiving you.

Get psyched

You have learned that feelings, whether rational or irrational, appear to be the drivers of the placebo effect. You have a rational basis for believing that honest placebo can work for you. Now it's time to do what comes naturally to all of us: let wishful thinking and other cognitive biases reinforce and inflate your belief and expectations. Remember: our service never claims to be more than it is; you are simply putting it in the best possible light to increase the chance that it will work for you. Consider:

• You are already a master of many complex brain skills such as language, mathematics, music, and social interaction. What's stopping you from mastering the placebo effect?
• Studies have shown that lots of people have experienced the placebo effect. Why shouldn't you?
• You have already learned to rationally manage basic human impulses such as fear, anger, and impatience. Why should the placebo effect be any different?

Go ahead and get excited about the possibilities. Prove that you can do it. Be a positive example for others. Why not?

Commit

Commitment can cement a belief while indecision can undermine it. Naturally, we base our commitment mechanism on a feature of real medications: the non-refundable purchase. Irrevocably purchasing the Eebo Plus app demonstrates that you believe in your own abilities to succeed with it.

Interact

When you install the Eebo Plus app, your smartphone becomes the placebo device, the central object that you should associate with all of your knowledge and expectations. Following the regimen provides consistent, thoughtful encounters with the device. The goal is for you to perceive this cause and effect: you act and then you feel better.

Treat the Eebo Plus app as though it were an actual medical device. For example, imagine that pressing the buttons on your phone physically dispenses medication to your body. It is critical that you take your virtual pills as you would take real pills: read the prescription, open the bottle, take your dose, and close the bottle. If you are taking medication prescribed by your doctor (you are seeing a doctor, right?), then take your virtual pills at the same time. To increase the association with your prescribed medication, choose the virtual pill that most closely resembles it.

Take virtual pills and record results.

Choose from a large selection of tablets or design a custom-colored capsule.

If you are not taking any medication then choose your own schedule and stick to it. We suggest that you take your virtual pills at meal times since you will likely have a minute to devote your full attention to the ritual.

Verify

To activate the coincidental conditioning feature, simply click [I feel better] when you feel that your symptoms have improved. We suggest that you get in the habit of taking a pill and then assessing your symptoms a short time later. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt; even if the improvement is small, make a point of opening the Eebo Plus app and clicking [I feel better].

Review your statistics to see how well you have been doing.

Get Eebo Plus

We discourage impulse purchases because preparation, expectation, and commitment are vital parts of the Eebo Plus regimen. You take your health seriously, and so do we.

Purchase the mobile app only after you have reviewed the pre-purchase checklist.

Pre-purchase checklist

1. Consult with your doctor.
2. Study and understand the information presented in this website.
3. Give yourself credit for bravely trying a novel treatment even though it might not work for you.
4. Read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
5. Be prepared to accept the Terms of Service. The app requires that you click to agree to the Terms of Service.
6. Remember that all sales are final (see the FAQs for an explanation).
7. Get psyched and ramp up your hopeful feelings and expectations (see the How to use section for a refresher).

Now you are ready to commit. We wish you well, and we're standing by to hear your story.

Eebo Plus on Facebook

Eebo Plus frequently asked questions

• Does the Eebo Plus mobile app protect my privacy?
• Do the other Eebo Plus services protect my privacy?
• How likely am I to experience results?
• Why don't you provide refunds?
• Why don't you provide a free trial?
• Are there any side effects?
• Are placebos dangerous?
• Should I perform classical conditioning myself?