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I have a few questions about the placebo effect for those familiar with research protocols. I don't know much about this subject, so please pardon me if I am repeating frequently asked questions. 1. If patients are told in advance that they may or may not receive the real medicine or the real surgery, doesn't this tend to undo the placebo effect? I thought that the effect is based on the patient believing that the treatment is the real thing. 2. Why do trials continue to check for the placebo effect? Haven't enough double-blind studies been done already to tell us what we may expect in this regard? What more is there to learn? Or does the effect vary depending on the treatment being tested? Phil Tompkins Hoboken NJ age 61/dx 1990