Many doctors believe that telling a patient about a placebo would negate its effects. Ted Kaptchuk of Harvard Medical School in Boston however, has recently published a paper that might prove otherwise. Kaptchuk and a team of researchers recruited 80 people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who experience symptoms such as chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, and irregular bowel movements. Each patient was told they would receive a placebo or no pills at all, and were also told what were in the placebos (no active ingredients).