In this article, Ed Welch offers a review of two research articles on the placebo effect. Welch maintains that placebo phenomena are a point of contact for biblical truth to speak to current cultural concerns. He observes that brain changes from placebos are almost indistinguishable from the brain changes related to psychoactive medication. Placebos and ‘talk therapies’ (such as biblical counseling) also change brain chemistry. Welch concludes that biblical counselors can offer hope that is more certain than psychoactive medication.
