{"product_id":"the-placebo-effect-an-interdisciplinary-exploration-9780674669840","title":"The Placebo Effect: An Interdisciplinary Exploration","description":"\u003cp\u003eA mere \"symbol\" of medicine--the sugar pill  saline injection  doctor in a white lab coat--the placebo nonetheless sometimes produces \"real\" results. Medical science has largely managed its discomfort with this phenomenon by discounting the placebo effect  subtracting it as an impurity in its data through double-blind tests of new treatments and drugs. This book is committed to a different perspective--namely  that the placebo effect is a \"real\" entity in its own right  one that has much to teach us about how symbols  settings  and human relationships literally get under our skin. Anne Harringtons introduction and a historical overview by Elaine Shapiro and the late Arthur Shapiro  which open the book  review the place of placebos in the history of medicine  investigate the current surge in interest in them  and probe the methodological difficulties of saying scientifically just what placebos can and cannot do. Combining individual essays with a dialogue among writers from fields as far-flung as cultural anthropology and religion  pharmacology and molecular biology  the book aims to expand our ideas about what the placebo effect is and how it should be seen and studied. At the same time  the book uses the challenges and questions raised by placebo phenomena to initiate a broader interdisciplinary discussion about our nature as cultural animals: animals with minds  brains  and bodies that somehow manage to integrate \"biology\" and \"culture \" \"mechanism\" and \"meaning \" into a seamless whole.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651963609141,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674669843","price":165.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674669840.jpg?v=1781847892","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-placebo-effect-an-interdisciplinary-exploration-9780674669840","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}