Beecher as Clinical Investigator: Pain and the Placebo Effect

Among the many contributions by Henry Beecher to science and clinical practice, pain and the placebo effect certainly represent two of the most important aspects. On the one hand, Beecher considered the pain experience not only as arising from the peripheral injured tissues, but also as an emotional...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPerspectives in biology and medicine Vol. 59; no. 1; pp. 37 - 45
Main Author Benedetti, Fabrizio
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Johns Hopkins University Press 2016
Subjects
Cardiovascular disease
Clinical Trials as Topic - history
Clinical Trials as Topic - methods
Ethics
History, 20th Century
Hospitals
Humans
Injuries
Laboratories
Military Personnel - psychology
Narcotics
Pain
Pain - physiopathology
Pain - psychology
Patients
Placebo Effect
Studies
Surgery
World War II
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Among the many contributions by Henry Beecher to science and clinical practice, pain and the placebo effect certainly represent two of the most important aspects. On the one hand, Beecher considered the pain experience not only as arising from the peripheral injured tissues, but also as an emotional experience that is capable of modulating the nociceptive input. On the other hand, he analyzed the placebo effect at an unprecedented level for that time. His ideas sparked from his work on wounded soldiers during World War II. In spite of the unusual situation and the lack of sophisticated experimental tools on the battlefield, Beecher succeeded in putting forward several important concepts, and his ideas still pervade modern health care and research.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0031-5982
1529-8795
1529-8795
DOI:10.1353/pbm.2016.0022