Imo, the clown-like nature of the medical establishment is best summarized by the way they approach “placebo effect”.

Simultaneously nothing - and everything - wrapped into a cute little Latin word to obfuscate the deception.

Did you know that anti-depressant medication arguably doesn’t yield any effect beyond a placebo effect? Most don’t, because in recent decades new anti-depressants aren’t tested against a placebo, but against the older anti-depressants. Wow! And who could have guessed, but they’re just as effective (i.e. not).

https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_vis=1&q=prozac+versus+placebo&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3D-BijJq904AwJ

The medications studied were amitriptyline, amylobarbitone, fluoxetine, imipramine, paroxetine, isocarbox-acid, trazodone, lithium, liothyronine, adinazolam, amoxapine, phenelzine, venlafaxine, maprotiline, tranylcypromine, and bupropion. Results show a substantial placebo effect in antidepressant medication and also a considerable benefit of medication over placebo. They also indicate that the placebo component of the response to medication is considerably greater than the pharmacological effect. Findings further suggest that antidepressants might function as active placebos, in which the side effects amplify the placebo effect by convincing patients that they are receiving a potent drug.

Even the studies that illustrate how big pharma manipulates data to fabricate a story must bow to the “conventional wisdom” on the “placebo effect”. People are curing themselves of depression, and if there is any “effect” from the drug it is its active side effects causing the patient to think the treatment is “doing something”. Imagine how effective the treatment would be if people weren’t being poisoned, but instead actively engaged in their own healing?

On that note, I bring up Wim Hof. In one study he revolutionized western sciences understanding of the placebo effect (unfortunately 99% of western science hasn’t heard the news).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4034215/

SIGNIFICANCE: Hitherto, both the autonomic nervous system and innate immune system were regarded as systems that cannot be voluntarily influenced. The present study demonstrates that, through practicing techniques learned in a short-term training program, the sympathetic nervous system and immune system can indeed be voluntarily influenced. Healthy volunteers practicing the learned techniques exhibited profound increases in the release of epinephrine, which in turn led to increased production of anti-inflammatory mediators and subsequent dampening of the proinflammatory cytokine response elicited by intravenous administration of bacterial endotoxin. This study could have important implications for the treatment of a variety of conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation, especially autoimmune diseases in which therapies that antagonize proinflammatory cytokines have shown great benefit.

I personally think the so called “placebo effect” could more accurately be called the “righteous living effect” or, for those who’ve come to understand the meaning of spirituality, the “Holy Spirit effect”. I think it’s no coincidence that modern science is also, simultaneously, finally catching up to the wisdom of “breathe” (aka spirit) “science” and the multitude of enriching and beneficial effects it has (yoga, tai chi, simple meditation for mental clarity, etc)

I think the vast majority of ailments are caused by our lifestyles and our environments, which is an important part of this conversation. Also, I think we need to discover just how much control we have over our capacity to heal.