PART 3 READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

THE POWER OF THE PLACEBO EFFECT

A. The placebo effect is a well-documented phenomenon in which patients feel better after receiving a treatment that, in fact, has no active properties. In clinical trials, some patients are given experimental drugs, while others receive a placebo, often in the form of a sugar pill. The placebo effect is the term given to the fact that people often perceive an improvement in their condition, even though they are not actually receiving any medication with active ingredients.

B. The placebo effect has long been a target of scorn. The term ‘placebo’ was originally coined in the 13th century, when it was used to refer to hired mourners at a funeral. These ‘mourners’ were not performing a service for the deceased, but rather for the people who had paid them. Similarly, a placebo is a treatment that is not administered for the benefit of the patient, but rather for the benefit of the physician, who can tell the patient that he or she has received a treatment. In the 19th century, the term ‘placebo’ was used by physicians to refer to treatments that they believed were biologically inert, but which they administered anyway in order to please the patient.

C. In the 20th century, placebos became widely used as controls in scientific studies. In such studies, the experimental group receives the treatment being tested, while the control group receives a placebo. The placebo effect is then calculated by subtracting the effect of the placebo from the effect of the experimental treatment. The placebo effect is considered to be a nuisance variable, which must be controlled in order to get an accurate measure of the experimental treatment’s effectiveness. This is the way that the placebo effect has been viewed for most of the 20th century.

D. However, in the 1990s, a few medical researchers began to suggest that the placebo effect might be worthy of scientific investigation in its own right. One of the first studies to draw attention to the placebo effect was published in 1955 by H. K. Beecher, who was a prominent anaesthesiologist at Harvard Medical School. Beecher’s study, entitled ‘The Powerful Placebo’, did not present any new experimental findings, but rather was a review of 15 clinical trials in which both placebo and experimental treatments were given. Beecher found that across these studies, 35% of the patients were satisfactorily relieved of their symptoms by a placebo alone. Beecher concluded that placebos could have a powerful effect on a range of conditions, including angina pectoris, the common cold, and seasickness.

E. Beecher argued that the placebo effect is not just a result of patients believing in the treatment they are receiving, but also of the patient’s relationship with the physician. He pointed out that the physician’s attitude toward the treatment, the physician’s confidence in the treatment, and the physician’s enthusiasm for the treatment can all have an impact on the patient’s response to the treatment. The placebo effect has been shown to be particularly effective in the treatment of pain. In one study, patients with post-operative pain were given either a placebo or a painkiller. The patients who received the placebo reported a significant reduction in pain, and some even reported complete pain relief.

F. In another study, patients with irritable bowel syndrome were given either a placebo or no treatment at all. The patients who received the placebo reported a significant improvement in their symptoms, while those who received no treatment reported no improvement. The placebo effect has even been shown to have an impact on surgical outcomes. In one study, patients with osteoarthritis of the knee were randomly assigned to receive either arthroscopic surgery or a placebo surgery. In the placebo surgery, the patients were given an anaesthetic and incisions were made in their knees, but no actual surgery was performed. The patients who received the placebo surgery reported a significant improvement in their symptoms, and this improvement was comparable to the improvement reported by the patients who received the actual surgery.

G. The placebo effect is a complex phenomenon that is not fully understood. However, it is clear that the placebo effect is a real and powerful phenomenon that can have a significant impact on a range of conditions. The placebo effect is not just a result of patients believing in the treatment they are receiving, but also of the patient’s relationship with the physician. The placebo effect is a real, measurable, and powerful phenomenon that should be taken seriously by the medical community.

Questions 27-33

Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-I.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

27.ABCDEFG . a reference to the origin of the word ‘placebo’

28.ABCDEFG . a reference to the fact that a placebo has no active ingredient

29.ABCDEFG . a reference to a study which did not involve any new research data

30.ABCDEFG . examples of conditions that respond well to treatment with a placebo

31.ABCDEFG . a reference to a study which involved a surgical procedure

32.ABCDEFG . a reference to a study which involved a drug treatment

33.ABCDEFG . a suggestion that the placebo effect should be seen as a positive thing

Questions 34-38

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 34-38 on your answer sheet, write

YES.	if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO.	if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN.	if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this