while you have the right idea I just want to correct something,...

while you have the right idea I just want to correct something, and this is a really common misconception.

There is a difference between a placebo and a vehicle. You are correct, a placebo is a pharmacologically inactive tablet which is to gauge the improvement through the thought of treatment vs actual treatment.

a vehicle is used when the drug is topically applied and is the base cream of the medication. So while you do not have any drug in there, and aside from wishful thinking, there is still an expected improvement to be made. Say you were testing dermatitis, the moisturising properties of the vehicle would still provide benefit outside of pure mindset.

again, just wanted to highlight the difference between a placebo and a vehicle. By all means (stepping away from mindset), a vehicle CAN improve someone’s condition while placebo CANT.

What a vehicle CANT do, is provide better relief than the pharmacologically active cream in one trial, yet have no meaningful impact in the next.