Ted J. Kaptchuk
Press and Media
Selected media coverage, 2006-2022
2022
Read: "Why a placebo can work - even when you know it's fake" National Geographic | Science
Read: "The Placebo Response - A Powerful Phenomenon" Technology Networks
Read: Media coverage of JAMA Open Network review on adverse events in the placebo arms of COVID-19 vaccine trials.
2021
Read: "Many doctors prescribe placebos. But how well do they work?" New York Times
2020
Read: "A placebo for pain relief - even when you know it's not real" Wall Street Journal
Listen: "How the placebo effect works" SYSK
2019
Listen: "Placebo: can the mind cure you?" Gimlet
Listen: “All the world’s a stage – including the doctor’s office” Hidden Brain / NPR
Listen: ”Placebos may be a powerful tool that medicine has overlooked” Morning Edition / NPR
Read: "How I learned to stop worrying and love the placebo effect" Pharmafocus
Listen: "The placebo paradox" BBC Radio
Read: "Patient care and enzyme release appear crucial to placebo effect" Irish Times
Listen: "Placebo on prescription" BBC Radio
2018
Listen: "The counter-intuitive effect of open-label placebo" BMJ podcasts
Read: "Placebo's new power" TIME Magazine
Read: "Will future GPs prescribe placebo pills?" Pharmacy News
Read: "The 'honest' placebo: when drugs still work even though patients know they're fake" New Atlas
Read: "Getting benefits from placebos" The Saturday Paper
2017
Read: "Mind over matter: How placebos can enhance health" U.S. News & World Report
Read: "Aus Getrickst" Frankfurter Allegmeine Sonntagszeitung
Read: "The weird power of the placebo effect, explained" Vox
Read: "A radical new hypothesis in medicine: give patients drugs they know don't work" Vox
Read: "I knew they were sugar pills but I felt fantastic" The Guardian
Read: "Just like medicine: 8 things you need to know about placebos" Prevention Magazine
View: Record-breaking metrics show impact of recent open-label article
Read: "Why I take fake pills" Smithsonian
Read: "The power of the placebo effect" Harvard Men's Health Watch
Read: "How the placebo effect may help you" Harvard Women's Health Watch
Read: "How telling people about the side effects of a drug can make them sick" Business Insider
2016
Read: "'Honest placebos' show medicine can work without any actual medicine" LA Times
Watch: "Why do placebos work?" CBS Sunday Morning (national news magazine)
Read: "Placebos ease back pain, even if you know it's a sugar pill" New York Times
Read: "Placebos ease pain even when patients know they are fake" London Times
Listen: "Is it still a placebo when it works and you know it is a placebo?" NPR
Read: "Why placebos really work: The latest science" Wall Street Journal
Read: "Placebos: Honest Fakery" Nature
Watch: "Placebos helping IBS, migraine sufferers find relief" CBS (Boston)
Watch: "New research shows prescription placebo can improve several common medical conditions" CBS
Read: "Tap the placebo effect to unlock your body's healing powers" New Scientist
2015
Read: "Most Notable Medical Findings of 2015" NewYorker.com
Listen: "Placebo Effects in Medicine" (Interview) New England Journal of Medicine
Listen: "The Placebo Effect" (Discussion) WNPR
Read: "Why are placebos getting more effective?" BBC News
Read: "The placebo effect grows (but only in the US)" The Boston Globe
View: "Placebo Effects Make Good Medicine Better" TEDMED
Read: "Genes and the placebo effect; Are you easily pleased?" The Economist
Read: "Is the placebo effect in your DNA"?" The Atlantic
Read: "Genes may influence the placebo effect" ScienceNews
Read: "The placebome: where genetics and the placebo effect meet" (e)Science News
2014
Read: "An 'expensive' placebo is more effective than a 'cheap' one, study shows". The Washington Post
Read: "What if age is nothing but a mind-set?" The New York Times
Read: "Outsmarting the placebo effect" Science Magazine
Listen: "Migraine study reveals the power of placebo" NPR's Science Friday
Listen: "Harnessing the placebo effect" BBC World Service (1st segment)
Read: "Migraines- tablets found to perform better when a patient is told they are effective" DailyMail
Read: "Power of suggestion revealed in study of migraine drug" US News and World Report
Read: "Half of a drug's power comes from thinking it will work" Shots (NPR Health Blog)
Read: "The placebo effect - a new study underscores its remarkable power" Toronto Globe and Mail
Read: "Expectations influence effects of medications and placebo" Harvard Medical News
2013
Watch: "The Potential of Placebo" A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 'Promise Story'
Watch: "Are Placebo Effects Worth Anything?" Harvard MED-Ed Talk by Ted Kaptchuk
Watch: Highlights of June 2013 Forum on The Science of Placebo
Read: "A Powerful Tool in the Doctor's Toolkit" New York Times - Health/Science
Read: "The Placebo Effect is Real. Now Doctors Just Have to Work out How to Use it" Fast Company
Watch: "Ted Kaptchuk - On the Placebo Effect" Cambridge Nights
Listen: "Research Shows Placebos May Have Place In Everyday Treatments" NPR - All Things Considered [Audio recording]
Read: "Meditation Without God" The Washington Post
Read: "Worried Sick" The Scientist
Read: "When Pretending is the Remedy" Scientific American Mind
Read: "Forget the Placebo Effect: It's the 'Care Effect' that Matters" WIRED Magazine
Read: "The Placebo Phenomenon" Harvard Magazine
Read: "Beyond Belief" Harvard Medicine
2012
Read: "Big pharma looks to ancient China for new cures" Lancet Oncology
Watch: "Pursuing the Placebo Effect" HMS Talks@Twelve [Video recording]
Listen: "The Nocebo effect: Is Ignorance Bliss?" NPR [audio recording]
Read: "Patients' DNA may explain how placebo effect occurs, study finds" Washington Post
Read: "Placebo effect may depend on your genes" Fox News.com
Listen: "One Scholar's Take on the Power of the Placebo" NPR's Science Friday [Audio recording]
Read: "Genetics may help explain placebo effect, researchers say" Bloomberg.com
Read: "Placebo effect may depend on your genes" LiveScience
Listen: “The Future of Placebos in Medical Care” The Kojo Nnamdi Show (WAMU Radio) [Audio recording]
Read: "Placebo effect may be 'down to genes'" BBC News Health
Listen: "The Nocebo effect: Is Ignorance Bliss?" NPR [audio recording]
Listen: "Understanding the placebo effect" MPR: Minnesota Public Radio [Audio recording]
Read: "Warning Patients of Drug Side Effects May Trigger Symptoms" The Boston Globe
Read: "When a placebo might be the best 'drug'" Consumer Reports
Read: "Putting the Placebo Effect to Work: Rather than dismiss it, we should try to understand the placebo effect and harness it when we can" Harvard Health Letter
Read: "One Scholar's Take on the Power of the Placebo" NPR's Science Friday [Audio recording]
Listen: “The Future of Placebos in Medical Care” The Kojo Nnamdi Show (WAMU Radio) [Audio recording]
Read: "Why Placebos Work Wonders" The Wall Street Journal
Listen: "Understanding the placebo effect" MPR: Minnesota Public Radio. [Audio recording]
Watch: "Pursuing the Placebo Effect" HMS Talks@Twelve. [Video recording]
2011
Read: "The placebo debate: Is it unethical to prescribe them to patients?" The Atlantic
Listen: "Demystifying the power of the placebo effect" WBUR: Boston's NPR Station [Audio recording]
Read: "The power of nothing" The New Yorker
Read: "Asthma study shows placebo can help symptoms" WebMD.
Read: "Meaningful placebos--Controlling the uncontrollable" New England Journal of Medicine [Editorial accompanying article published in same issue]
Listen: "Placebos and Medical 'Meaning'" New England Journal of Medicine's JournalWatch Podcast [Audio recording]
Read; "The placebo effect, this time in asthma" Wall Street Journal
Read: "When first we practice to deceive" Harvard Medicine
2010
Listen: "All in the mind" BBC Radio 4 [Audio recording]
Listen: "Fake pills can work, even if patients know it" NPR [Audio recording]
Read: "Patients in study who knew they were taking placebo still felt better" Boston Globe
Read: "Perceptions: Positive spin adds to a placebo's impact" New York Times
Listen: "Placebo" BBC World Today [Audio recording]
Watch: "Placebos work, even without deception" NBC Nightly News [TV broadcast]
Watch: "Sugar pills help, even when patients are aware of them" ABC News
Read: "The nothing cure" Forbes
2008
Listen: "Placebo" BBC Radio 4 [Audio recording]
Read: "What is the placebo worth?" BMJ [Editorial accompanying article published in same issue]
Watch: "The power of placebo" Channel 7 Eyewitness News [TV broadcast]
2006
Read: "Alternative placebos" Harvard Magazine
Read: "Disentangling separate effects" BMJ [Editorial accompanying article published in same issue]
Read: "Not all placebos are equal" JAMA. [Editorial accompanying article published in same issue]
Read: "On pills and needles" Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin
Watch: "The power of placebo" Channel 7 Eyewitness News [TV broadcast]