Almost four out of five doctors do it and say it's because patients expect a treatment.
When going to the GP, most people expect to leave with medication to fix an illness — or at least a treatment plan to tackle it.
But Australian-first research reveals doctors are instead giving many patients placebos, ranging from water-based injections to unnecessary antibiotics.77 per cent of doctors reported giving 'active placebos' — drugs that are real but aren't used to address the underlying conditionGPs report using placebos because they believe they have genuine psychological benefits
A placebo treatment is one doctors know won't address the underlying condition but that may produce a positive psychological or physiological effect for some patients. University of Sydney School of Psychology Associate Professor Ben Colagiuri said almost 80 per cent of Australian GPs reported giving patients an"active placebo".
"Many were prescribing antibiotics or antidepressants, which are genuine drugs, as a placebo," Professor Colagiuri said.
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