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Despite not containing any actual medicine whatsoever, studies have found that placebos can help people.
安慰剂尽管并不包含任何实际的药物，但研究发现它却可以帮助到人们。
They've been shown to alleviate symptoms in a number of medical conditions, including depression, pain, and even Parkinson's Disease.
已经证实，安慰剂可以缓解许多疾病的症状，包括抑郁、疼痛，甚至帕金森氏症。
And that's supposedly thanks to the power of belief.
这应该归功于信念的力量。
Basically, if a person really believes that they're taking an effective drug, their brain is somehow tricked into making them feel better,
基本上，如果一个人真的相信自己正在服用一种特效药，
whether it's by producing chemicals or activating key neural regions.
那么不管是产生化学物质，还是激活关键的神经区域，大脑都会上当，认为他们感觉好一些了。
But... it turns out that's not the whole story.
但是，事实证明这不是完整的故事内容。
You see, scientists have discovered that even when patients know they're taking placebos, they still feel better.
你看，科学家们发现，即使病人知道他们在服用安慰剂，还是会感觉好多了。
So somehow, they're experiencing the placebo effect even though they don't believe they're taking medicine.
所以不知怎么的，即使他们不认为自己在吃药，他们也在经历安慰剂效应。
And figuring out why this happens will help us understand what things our brains can and can't fix all on their own.
弄清楚发生这种情况的原因，将有助于我们了解哪些问题是大脑可以自行修复的，而哪些问题则不能。
Placebos were first used to test the effectiveness of treatments.
安慰剂最早用来测试治疗的有效性。
The idea was simple: You give half of a test group medicine and the other half something inert,
这个想法很简单：你给一半试验组药物，另一半则是无效的物质。
and if the group taking the medicine fares better, then the medicine works.
如果服用药物的那一组治疗效果更好，那么药物就起作用了。
But, in some cases, the placebo group got better, too.
但是，在某些情况下，安慰剂组也会有所好转。
So, instead of getting frustrated over a ruined study—though I'm sure that happened as well
因此，临床医师们不会因研究失败而感到沮丧，尽管我确信也发生了这种情况。
—clinicians took advantage of these happy accidents and started giving patients placebos as treatments.
但他们却利用这些结果令人满意的事故，开始为患者提供安慰剂治疗。
Anywhere from seventeen to ninety-seven percent of doctors say they've done this at least once, though there's a lot of debate about whether it's ok from an ethical standpoint.
17%到97%的医生说，他们至少这样做过一次。尽管从伦理的角度来看，这样做是否可行存在着很多的争论。
I mean, sure, if it works, you're helping the person.
我的意思是，当然，如果见效了，你就是在帮助那位患者。
But you're also lying to them about their medical care.
但你也是在对他们的治疗撒谎。
Of course, you can't let them in on the ruse, because then the placebo won't work.
当然，你不能让他们参与到这个骗局中，因为那样安慰剂就不起作用了。
Or… will it?
或者，情况会是这样的吗？
See, this whole practice of actually prescribing placebos made some medical professionals wonder if there was a way to use them without deception.
你看，这种开安慰剂处方的做法，让一些医学专业人士怀疑是否有一种不用欺骗就能使用的方法。
And it turns out, there is.
事实证明，是有的。
Open label placebos are ones where the patient is informed that they are taking an inert medication.
开放实验型安慰剂，是指患者被告知正在服用无效的安慰剂。
And like other placebos, they can be used in one of two ways:
和其他安慰剂一样，它们可以用两种方法中的一种：
either as a dose extender after a round of medicine to prolong its effects, or just straight up as a treatment.
要么在一轮药物治疗后，作为剂量延长剂来延长疗效，要么直接用作治疗。
Either way, clinical trials have demonstrated that they work.
不管怎样，临床试验已经证明了它们的有效性。
For example, in a series of small studies, one research team found that open label placebos were more effective than no treatment or the usual treatment for a variety of conditions,
例如，在一系列的小型研究中，一个研究小组发现，对于癌症相关的疲劳、偏头痛和考试焦虑等多种疾病，
including cancer-related fatigue, migraines, and test anxiety.
开放实验型安慰剂比不治疗或常规治疗更有效。
They even worked for patients with irritable bowel syndrome in a 2010 study.
它们甚至在2010年的一项研究中，为肠易激综合征患者起到了治疗效果。
The participants either received no treatment or a placebo that was carefully billed as such.
受试者要么不接受治疗，要么接受仔细计费的安慰剂治疗。
They specifically told the patients it was "like a sugar pill", and the pills came in a bottle labeled "placebo".
他们特别告诉病人，这就像是“糖丸”。然后，把药丸装到一个标有“安慰剂”的瓶子里。
Yet, after three weeks, fifty-nine percent of patients in the placebo group reported adequate symptom relief,
然而三周后，安慰剂组中59%的患者报告，症状得到了缓解；
while only thirty-five percent of the ones who received no treatment did.
而没有接受治疗的患者中，只有35%的人报告症状得到了缓解。
That's on par with the best pharmaceuticals for IBS, even though the participants knew they were taking a completely inactive pill.
这与治疗肠易激综合征的最佳药物的疗效不相上下，尽管受试者知道他们服用的是完全无效的药丸。
Weirdly enough, researchers think that these open label placebos still manage to work for many of the same reasons the usual, deceptive ones do.
奇怪的是，研究人员认为，这些开放实验型安慰剂仍然能够以通常的、具有欺骗性的安慰剂相同的方式发挥疗效。
Like, they can tap into prior conditioning—the automatic responses you associate with a specific, learned stimulus.
比如说，它们可以利用你与特定的、学习到的刺激相关联的自动反应。
I'm sure you've heard of Ivan Pavlov and his dogs.
我肯定你听说过伊凡· 巴甫洛夫和他的狗。
That's the most famous example of classical conditioning.
这是经典条件作用最著名的例子。
By pairing the click of a metronome with food, Pavlov was able to get his pups to salivate from the sound alone.
通过将节拍器的咔哒声与食物配对，巴甫洛夫能让他的幼犬单独凭借声音而分泌唾液。
And something similar seems to happen with medication.
类似的事情似乎也发生在药物治疗上。
Say you take something to lower your blood pressure every day.
比如说，你每天都吃点东西来降低血压
Your brain might learn to associate the ritual of taking that pill with a drop in blood pressure so much so that it actually stops mattering what pill you take.
你的大脑可能会学会将服用避孕药与血压下降联系在一起，以至于它实际上不再影响你服用什么避孕药。
This is essentially the idea behind dose-extending placebos.
这基本上就是延长安慰剂剂量的想法。
A round of medicine first trains the brain, then the placebo maintains the response.
一轮药物先训练大脑，然后安慰剂维持其反应。
For example, in one study, patients were given an immune-suppressing drug along with green, strawberry-flavored milk.
例如，在一项研究中，给患者使用一种免疫抑制药物和绿色草莓味牛奶。
Afterwards, when they drank the weird milk with a placebo, their immune function became suppressed, just like it did with the active medication.
随后，当他们用安慰剂喝下这种奇怪的牛奶时，免疫功能就被抑制了，就像用活性药物的功效一样。
And it only took four sessions over three days to condition their brains.
三天里，只花了四次治疗就能调整他们的大脑。
This kind of conditioning could also occur subconsciously all the time, which might be why you don't always need a training regimen with real medicine to see results.
这种条件作用也可能一直在潜意识中发生，这可能就是为什么你并不总是需要真正的药物训练方案才能看到疗效。
Simply taking effective medicines may condition your brain to associate pills, grossly-flavored liquids, or whatnot with the physiological responses that make you feel better.
简单地服用有效的药物可能会使你的大脑将药片、味道难闻的液体或其他与使你感觉更好的生理反应联系起来。
It's also possible the secret to open label placebos is in fact the power of belief or, what psychologists would call an expectancy effect.
开放实验型安慰剂的秘密也有可能就是信念的力量，或者是心理学家称之为的期望效应。
Even if patients don't believe they're taking medicine, they could still believe that the treatment will work—and that might be why it does.
即使病人不相信他们在吃药，他们仍然相信这种治疗有效，这可能就是其原因。
You see, studies have found that open label placebos are more effective when a doctor explains the rationale behind them,
你看，研究发现，当医生解释开放实验型安慰剂背后的原理时，
especially when they explicitly say things like "It is well known that placebos are very effective".
尤其是当医生明确地说“众所周知，安慰剂非常有效”时，开放实验型安慰剂则更有效。
Still, whether it's because of conditioning or expectancy or a bit of both, it's still pretty amazing that placebos work at all.
不过，不管是因为条件作用还是预期作用，或者两者兼而有之，安慰剂的效果还是相当惊人的。
And researchers are still trying to figure out their limits.
研究人员仍在努力找出它们的极限。
Since their effect comes from convincing your brain to help you out,
因为它们的效果来自于说服大脑来帮助你，
they seem to work best when symptoms are directly controlled by brain activity—things like pain, nausea, and fatigue.
当症状被大脑活动直接控制时，比如疼痛、恶心和疲劳，似乎最有效。
So if larger studies continue to demonstrate their potential,
因此，如果有更大规模的研究能证明其潜力，
open label placeboes could eventually supplement or replace medicines like opioids that have nasty side effects.
开放实验型安慰剂最终可能会补充或取代具有恶劣副作用的类阿片类药物。
But what's really wild is that, when you think about it, so much of what goes on in our bodies is ultimately controlled by our brains.
但真正疯狂的是，当你仔细想想，我们体内发生的很多事情最终都是由大脑控制的。
So someday, open label placebos could replace all sorts of expensive drugs and reveal just how powerful the human mind can be.
因此，有一天，开放实验型安慰剂可以取代各种昂贵的药物，并揭示出人类大脑是多么强大。
Aren't brains just the best?
大脑难道不是最好的吗？
I think so, anyway.
我想是的。
And if you do, too, you'll probably love all the episodes we produce here on SciShow Psych.
如果你也这么认为，你可能会喜欢我们在《心理科学秀》栏目制作的所有剧集。
And to that end, I have some great news!
我有个好消息！
By clicking that subscribe button, you can make sure each and every episode is delivered straight to your YouTube feed!
通过点击订阅按钮，你能确保每集节目都直接发送到你的YouTube订阅源！
So you won't miss a single one.
这样，你就不会错过节目了。
