All new pharmaceutical products need go through a series of quality and effectiveness tests prior to being used on patients.

Measuring the effectiveness of a drug against placebo is one such test. A placebo, in this context, is a medicine, pill or potion that has absolutely no medicinal qualities whatever. In effect it is a 'sugar pill.'

You do not have to know what the sun is made of to see by its light. And you do not need to be a top scientist to appreciate that the placebo effect is very real and extremely effective.

It has long been recognised in the pharmaceutical industry that if a patient truly believes that a pharmacologically inactive substance has an ability to cure, then, amazingly, it can, and often does.

History records the power 'placebo' has upon the human mind. An early pioneer in this field was Emile Coue, a French pharmacist. In the early 1920s he discovered that if he asked his patients to repeat the phrase, 'Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better', their recovery rate improved.

Most people accept that our body can be controlled by the mind. If a patient is prescribed a 'placebo' he or she is not normally told this, and often the mind is so convinced improvement in health will follow - it actually does!

Not knowing the substance is inert we believe in a cure. Our recovery therefore comes from within, and it is the power of the subconscious that heals us. The purveyors of so called quack medicines relied on this to succeed in selling their products, which were often little more than coloured sugar water.

Pharmaceutical companies have products with proven benefits. The years of research and development and the in-depth trials are testament to that.

I believe that by empowering those prescribing medication with a better understanding of the power of placebo and the human mind, an increase in the effectiveness of most medications can be achieved.

A patient's subconscious brain will normally accepts the advice of a doctor or nurse without question.The subconscious brain can be controlled!

Our conscious brain acts as a gate keeper. We sample subconscious thoughts when we dream.

Discover a means of bypassing or influencing the 'gatekeeper' conscious brain and you have a door to the influential, subconscious mind of a patient that has the ability to enhance the effectiveness of medication.

For 15 years I have collated best practice provided by doctors, nurses and pharmacists.Experience has shown me that those connected with prescribing can be taught how to apply 'placebo' during a consultation.

If you are prepared to offer training to those prescribing medication on the art of applying the placebo phenomena during a consultation you are empowering that practitioner with a new tool in the fight against illness and disease.