Placebomania

A neurocentric version of placebo reduction, where the placebo effect is reduced entirely to brain chemistry (dopamine, endorphins, expectation circuits) and used to dismiss any non‑pharmaceutical intervention. Placebomania ignores that placebo responses are complex, involve social context, meaning, and the therapeutic relationship. It also ignores that placebo research itself shows real brain changes; the response is real, not fake. Critics call it reductionist dogma.

Placebomania Example: “The placebomaniac said ‘your meditation doesn’t work; it’s just endogenous opioids.’ He missed the point: the reduction doesn’t erase the experience of relief or the practice’s value.”

Placebomania by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal June 5, 2026