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Definition
Finding an adequate definition of placebo has proved a challenge. All definitions deal with the paradox of an intervention producing a beneficial effect when it is not supposed to do so. The paradox arises when an intervention has some effects that are due to a known physiological mechanism, and others whose mechanism is unknown. Respectively, these are referred to as the specific and nonspecific effects of a treatment. The paradox is resolved if and once the mechanisms of the nonspecific effects become known. However, while so long as its mechanism remains unknown, any effect that is not due to the specific, intended effects of a treatment is referred to as a placebo effect. Any beneficial effect that cannot be attributed to the specific, intended effects is referred to as a placebo response.
In its purist form, a placebo is an agent with no (known) therapeutic effect or “an intervention designed to simulate medical therapy”...
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Masters, S. (2013). Placebo. In: Gebhart, G.F., Schmidt, R.F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28753-4_3362
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