Placebos do only subjective harm, and also do subjective good.

Also many of the interventions you advocate are merely placebo's, they claim to do things that no placebo can do, but they survive on placebo effect. I have no problem with that if they are the most effective option and the safest option, but that is only rarely the case.

There's a good discussion of placebos in Bausell's recently published book "Snake Oil Science - The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine".

In labeling just about any alternative medical treatment as no better than placebo (I think he goes too far in his conclusions, though some of his evidence is compelling) he discusses the fact that many people do in fact see a benefit from a placebo treatment, even if it doesn't last for long and they have to keep seeking out new ones. He gives recommendations for finding a sympathetic and reasonably knowledgeable health provider who'll offer a placebo-type treatment and won't exploit you monetarily or prescribe a dangerous treatment (even placebos can cause damaging side effects. The power of belief can be quite strong).

Thats rite, doctors only prescribe placebo's with no solid side effects (well no more than sugar) but some treatments that work as placebo's can be very harmful, like the heavy metals used in traditional medicines from the Indian subcontinent.

Be cautious of Medical Industry and do your own research in books and google. The US medical industry is highly touted by the medical people on this forum who make their living off of you.
They don't tell you to research western medicine only herbs that they've done dirty research on that is doubtful. You should research all medicines.

Who exactly are you talking to OL, its just You, Eric and I

Bren, you'd be surprised who all reads the posts on this forum and don't post. My My you are naive.

Those people are called lurkers, and typically, just like you address someone who is not actively participating in a conversation before speaking directly to them, its best to address your comment to your target audience. Since this is not face to face I cannot detect subtle changes in your posture or body language or tone of voice, you must be very direct if confusion is to be avoided.

>> "Thats rite, doctors only prescribe placebo's with no solid side effects (well no more than sugar) but some treatments that work as placebo's can be very harmful, like the heavy metals used in traditional medicines from the Indian subcontinent."

Read the article - doctors are prescribing antibiotics, sedatives, anti-inflammatories, and other medicines as placebos.

Antibiotics should not be placebo, there is very little chance of that working (that doesn't mean you cannot tell a patient that a placebo might help them, fighting an infection is about more than killing it) but sedatives and anti-inflamatory medications are totally dealing with subjective things and placebo is probably better than a drug in many cases (if you can sleep does it matter if it was because you were not sleeping for no reason before hand and now no cure has fixed it?) with inflammation the problem is typically not the inflammation (although that is bad) its the discomfort and stiffness, both of which are subjective.

Placebo is not a simple thing. Many drugs are placebo for reasons science is just beginning to understand. Some are just being found to be placebo. Part of the problem is how testing is done. People getting placebo often stop worrying about the problem, and this causes benefit. People being told they are getting something for their problem that will help it not only use the power of belief, but very real calming chemicals in the brain as well as immune chemicals in reaction. We need to seriously rethink how we test drugs for pain and disease, rethink how we see immune interactions, and understand that placebo and nocebo are a complex chemical cascade in a person with real power for use and misuse.