Hey guys! Just raising awareness that homeopathy is utter horseshit!

@ZVoid: That's a very valid question, my response to OP also sums it up. However, I wouldn't say that herbs are "empty" because it has worked since ages. But yes, a person's psychology plays a big role in their wellbeing.

@QueenOfQuirk:

Well that's the thing. Regression to the mean and natural progression of the disease often make people think their sugar pills have cured them. Like if you tie a toad to your head to cure your cold, your cold IS going to go away in a week or two but the toad probably didn't have much to do with it.

Herbs definitely can have some effect. Of course there is a lot of quackery in that area too, but they are using plants that can actually have a physiological effect on your body.

I'm sorry to hear that the meds have messed up your kidneys. That sucks. But i guess that's one of the indicators that medicine actually does something. Side effects show us that there is an effect and the fact that homeopathy has no side effects whatsoever for any treatment shows us that there isn't actually anything going on

@ZVoid:

Well the way it works is that people might self-report that they're getting better when they actually aren't.
Now this is great for things like back pain and nausea because there is a psychological component and perception is in a practical sense indistinguishable from reality.
But for non-subjective illnesses the placebo effect is nothing. You might feel as if you're body is healing but in fact you're just as sick as you were to begin with

@GlassDog:

Placebo is pretty much useless. It's not the powerful effect people make it out to be.
I agree that you can't discount psychology because for things like pain there is a psychological component so placebo can be useful there.

But everywhere else it's useless

@MetalGreymon: What I'd say is that there are illnesses where a positive frame of mind has more of an impact than others. For many illnesses, the placebo effect would barely apply.

@GlassDog:

Well yes, exactly. Like chronic pain. We just suck at treating chronic pain and since a placebo can make you perceive that you're in less pain, for all intents and purposes you are even though your pain actually hasn't lessened.

But that's pretty much it. There's not a lot of evidence for the "mind over matter" perception of the placebo effect.
You might think you're doing better but in fact no physical change has occurred.