Can placebo have physical effects, not just psychological ones?

[Alfred001]

I know placebo can have sensory or psychological effects like reducing pain or anxiety or fatigue and some effects that are sort of physical like increasing heart beat rate or blood pressure, but these can be controlled by psychological factors (like being upset), is there any evidence that placebo can have effects that are entirely physical?

[Prometheus]

Is immune and hormonal response physical enough? This review has a nice little section on it. I think the line between psychological and physical is a little more blurred than our Western dualistic upbringing would suggest.

[CharonY]

34 minutes ago, Prometheus said:

Is immune and hormonal response physical enough? This review has a nice little section on it. I think the line between psychological and physical is a little more blurred than our Western dualistic upbringing would suggest.

Absolutely. Or rather, I think that the idea flip-flops depending on how you approach it. Obviously the connection is well-recognized, otherwise we would not use so many psychoactive drugs for treatment. And we have long known that our psychological sensations are integrated in the brain. Yet, we do not fully understand the connections and it is often simpler to talk about the one or the other. Placebos are one of the fascinating areas where both heavily overlap.