Pain is something that occurs naturally and is typically a signal to the body that something is wrong. In most cases, the pain will go away as the body heals or with the aid of medication, but sometimes the pain is persistent.

Persistent pain, which is known as chronic pain, can be very hard to deal with and have a number of effects on the body. There are a number of methods of treating pain, both acute and chronic, including a number of medications and medical procedures.

One of the most interesting, albeit it in some regards disingenuous, ways of treating pain is through the placebo effect.

The placebo effect has been observed by doctors for many years and is when giving the patient a completely benign medicine, such as a sugar pill, can actually help make the patient feel better.

Placebo is a Latin word that literally means "I will please" and is considered to provide a distraction from the pain or be caused by the patients eagerness to please the doctor. Whether it is simply a sugar pill or an injection of salt water, sometimes the mind can be a very powerful asset when dealing with pain and discomfort.

There have been and are currently a number of studies that test the effectiveness of giving patients placebos in place of an actual medication. Interestingly there is consistently a 35% success rate across most of these studies, in which over a third of participants respond favorably to a placebo.

In one study, doctors tested the effectiveness of placebos for pain following the removal of wisdom teeth. In the study, a third of the patients were given morphine, a third placebos, and a third naloxone, which is a medication that blocks the bodies natural pain fighting mechanisms.

About a third of the group that took the placebo reported some pain relief. Those that reported pain relief were then given naloxone and all subsequently reported that the pain returned.

Researchers have found that stress might play an important role in the acceptance of a placebo, because those who are in a very stressful or anxious state are more likely to accept a placebo than someone who is cool and collected.