The Powerful Placebo: From Ancient Priest to Modern PhysicianRanging from antiquity to modern times, this history of the placebo effect is especially timely in light of renewed interest in the mind body relationship. Until this century, most medications prescribed by physicians were pharmacologically inert, if not harmful. That is, physicians were prescribing placebos or worse without knowing it. In a sense, then, the history of medical treatment until relatively recently is the history of the placebo effect.