Making Sense of the Placebo Effect. Q and A with Ted Kaptchuk

Ted Kaptchuk talks about the placebo effect and the therapeutic encounter, including what consumers should know about the placebo effect in their health care decision-making.

Ted Kaptchuk is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Ted Kaptchuk’s research in the field of placebo studies has focused on the impact of placebos in various illnesses, the neurobiology of placebo effects, and the experience of patients being treated by placebo.