Interesting article. I do wonder if doing nothing is better than taking a sugar pill... I remember something about the statistical concept of "regression to the mean," meaning that people will tend to fall back to average if nothing is done.

And yeah, if people find out they're being lied to, of course that undermines trust!

Recommending vitamins or massage might be just as helpful, and less dangerous, than prescribing meds. It's troubling that doctors would prescribe antibiotics as a placebo.