Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[Steady_T]

They can be fatal. Placebo effects can be positive or negative. The negative is easier to demonstrate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_death.

There was a case presented in one of my classes of man in WWII from one of the Caribbean islands where voodoo was practiced. The man was stationed in Asia in the British army. He received a letter saying that he had a death curse placed on him by a voodoo priest and that he would die on a particular time and day a few weeks in the future. The medical people tried to explain to him that it wasn't possible for a curse to kill him and he would be fine. He did not believe them. On the day in question he became very nervous and went to the medical people. They monitored him and tried to reassure him that he would be OK. As the appointed time approached his blood pressure started dropping and he died at the appointed time.

That is the negative side of the placebo effect, there have been examples of the positive side that are also very strong.