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The students of Global Perspectives & Research at NIS Kokshetau have been learning how to create interview questions and how to find professors online. On Sunday the 7th of April, Dana Kapar, an 11B student, interviewed one of the world’s foremost experts in the ‘placebo effect’. As getting a one-on-one video conference with a world-leading expert is impressive for even a university student, we asked Dana more about her experience.
Can you tell us about your research project for GP?
My research project based on the question ‘What is the influence of the placebo effect in treatment on patients?’ A placebo is a medical treatment or procedure designed to deceive the participant of a clinical experiment. It does not contain any active ingredients but often still produces a physical effect on the individual.
One of the motivation factors that influenced me to choose this topic is that I enjoy reading about Psychology. At one moment, I faced an unknown phrase called the ‘placebo effect’. After that, I was engaged and found that a placebo effect is highly controversial phenomenon in medicine. Some people think that it is one of the most available drugs, whereas others argue that the placebo effect is ineffective and can trigger deterioration of health. Therefore, I wanted to be aware of whether it is real or not.
Can you tell us about the person you interviewed?
In fact, in order to learn much more about the placebo effect, I wrote a letter to more than 10 professors. However, only 3 professors answered me, one of whom was Professor Luana Colloca. She is a physician, scientist and associate professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore, School of Nursing and School of Medicine. Prof. Luana Colloca has conducted several studies that have advanced scientific understanding of the placebo effect and its effectiveness in mitigating of pain. Moreover, she established a unique program of research on human pain modulation and placebo and nocebo effects from both a mechanistic and translational viewpoint. It is also worth noting that she participated in a Tedx Talks and gave a speech on the topic of “Are placebos the solution?”
How did you find this person?
Since the beginning of the year, I have been introduced to some of Prof. Luana Сollocа’s works, which were based on the concept of the placebo effect. When our teachers have asked us to interview the professors, I decided to write to her. I found the email address of Prof. Luana through website called Linkedin and sent her some of my questions.
What was the overall impression of the interview? What did you learn from her?
To be honest, I did not even expect Prof. Luana to answer me, as many professors are very busy and do not have the free time to do so. However, when she replied to my letter and offered to hold a video conference with me, I was utterly elated. In the video conference, she answered to all my questions in detail and explained how the placebo effect works. Furthermore, thanks to her I had an opportunity to learn about the opposite side of placebos, named nocebo effect. Finally, she described to me which factors influence the work of the placebo effect and the importance of positive thinking in the treatment. It was a very exciting and informative experience for me!