Meaning, Medicine and the 'Placebo Effect'

Daniel Moerman is William E. Stirton Professor of Anthropology at The University of Michigan-Dearborn.

• Introduction: 'Pickle ash' and 'High blood'; Part I. The Meaning Response: 1. Healing and medical treatment; 2. The healing process; 3. Measurement and its ambiguities; 4. Doctors and patients; 5. Formal factors and the meaning response; 6. Knowledge and culture; illness and healing; Part II. Applications, Challenges and Opportunities: 7. Psychotherapy: placebo effect or meaning response?; 8. The neurobiology and cultural biology of pain; 9. 'More research is needed': the cases of 'adherence' and 'self-reported health'; 10. Other approaches: learning, expecting and conditioning; 11. Ethics, placebos and meaning; Part III. Meaning and Human Biology: 12. The extent (and limits) of meaning; 13. Conclusions: many claims, many issues.

'This lively book conceptualises the complex construct of the meaning response in medicine while taking advantage of current research and newly developed ideas.' Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies