If you guessed any of these, you're wrong, because these are all tic-tacs!

如果你認為自己猜對了，那麼你錯了。因為這些全都是薄荷糖！

But if I was a medical professional handing over some tablets to cure your headache or the morning after pill (you wouldn't want that to be a tic-tacs),

但如果我是個醫藥專家，並用這些「藥丸」治療你的頭痛，或是用作事後避孕藥（你不會想吃成薄荷糖的），

how would you know that it's the real deal?

如何知道自己沒有被騙呢？

This is where the placebo effect takes place.

這就是安慰劑發揮效果的關鍵點。

Could a doctor give you a pill which is actually a sugar pill (or tic-tac if you say it's supposed to be minty) and cure their patient?

醫生能不能給病人一顆看似是藥丸，實際上卻是糖果（或是薄荷糖，如果你堅持要薄荷味的話）卻仍然能治癒病人呢?

In one study conducted around the placebo effect, it was found that if doctors said that the patient would "feel better in a few more days" that patients recovery was increased

在一項安慰劑效應的研究中發現，要是醫生對病人說：「吃了這個藥，幾天後就會好一點了。」

than saying something like "this isn't going to help you at all."

病人的痊癒情況會比醫生說：「就算吃了藥，也不會對你有任何幫助。」好上許多。

Some studies have even shown that the amount you have to take, the size, how many you have to take a day, what box the drug comes in

有些研究更顯示，病人的用藥量、藥丸大小、一天服藥次數、藥品包裝，

and even the colour of the pill can make the effect stronger or weaker.

甚至是藥丸顏色，都影響藥丸的效果。

Even things like getting an injection instead of taking a pill can have a stronger effect, even though they're all medically ineffective.

就連以打針替代服藥這樣的改變，都能使效力倍增，即使打的針本身並不具有任何效果。

So does that mean our heads can just heal our bodies?

這是不是代表我們的腦袋能自行治癒身體呢？

Some research suggests that the placebo effect works because the body releases endorphins, not to be confused with dolphins.

有些研究指出，安慰劑效應能發揮效果是因為人體會分泌腦內啡，別跟跟海豚搞混了。（兩者英文讀音相似）

Endorphins are the body's natural pain killers and could be why the placebo effect works quite well when we're trying to get rid of the pain.

腦內啡就像人體自然產生的止痛藥，也是安慰劑效應在我們想止痛時能生效的原因。

One study found that those who were given a real drug which increased their hormone level had the same amount of increase when they were given a placebo tablet later on.

研究指出，服用賀爾蒙藥丸與服用安慰劑的病人，兩者身體所增加的賀爾蒙量一樣多。

The same study found that those who didn't get the initial hormonal increase drug didn't see their hormone levels increase.

但同項研究也發現，有部分沒有服用賀爾蒙藥物的人，賀爾蒙指數並沒有增加。

The placebo effect doesn't work for everyone,

這顯示安慰劑效應並不適用於所有人，

but it's interesting to think that perhaps if we learnt more about it we could eventually cure ourselves with the power of our brains,

但有趣的是，如果我們更加了解這個效應，也許最終就能運用大腦本身的力量讓身體痊癒，

which would be much more useful than having to deal with the side-effects of the tablets we take today.

這將比現今仍須服藥物，並承受其副作用的治療方式有效得多。