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The effects of the placebo, in this case a pill that has no form of medication can go a long way for a patient's mental and physical health. According to a recent poll, 97 percent general practitioners, GPs, stated that they have given a placebo prescription for their patients. The study published in PLoS One suggests that this trend in the United Kingdom might actually be beneficial since doctors are ideally giving the sugar pill to help patients and not to deceive them.

In this survey, 783 primary care physicians were interviewed regarding their administration of a placebo to certain patients. The study reports that one in 10 of the doctors have given a sugar pill or has injected salty water into their patients. One in 100 stated that they have done this at least once every week. Not only did the physicians admitted to using placebos, the majority of them stated that they have prescribed treatment options, such as supplements and probiotics that technically are not proven medical treatments. Roughly three-fourths of the doctors stated to have prescribed these types of treatments on a daily or weekly basis. Almost all of these doctors and the study authors state that the use of this type of treatment is meant to help the patients.

"This is not about doctors deceiving patients," one of the study's authors, Dr. Jeremy Howick stated. "The study shows that placebo use is widespread in the UK, and doctors clearly believe that placebos can help patients. The study was done by the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton.

The Royal College of GPs explained that placebos could be very useful, and that they used them as a tool to reassure their patients, especially those who asked for treatment options. If the patients do not need antibiotics or some other form of pills, but consistently insist on it, the doctors turn to placebos. Half of the physicians stated that they have told their patients of the benefits of the placebo on other patients without informing them that the pill actually had no medical effects.

"Lots of doctors use them and they can help people," the Chairman of the Royal College of GPs, Dr. Clare Gerada, said. "But there are risks. Not all of the placebo treatments that the researchers look at in this study are inert. If you take too many vitamins, for example, some can cause harm."

The doctors in the study and the chairman condemned the use of fake drugs to avoid treatment.