Placebo-controlled trials have been around in clinical testing for a long time. Placebos mainly act as a control procedure that needs to be done in order to keep all the variables the same, except for the actual drug. It can also shed light on the psychological effects that occur such as the placebo effect. It can show that just “thinking” that a drug is working, can help the treatment process. In some situations, many ethical issues can arise, but I believe that they are necessary to act as a control variable and compare the clinical study to something. Reading about many clinical trials, I have come to know that many people are actually told the guidelines of the study and as akashranpura mentioned above, they are sometimes told they may or may not receive a placebo instead of an actual treatment plan. Most patients are also given therapy for any issues that may arise or are compensated for being in the study. The main disadvantage of PCTs are that they could affect the patient or person receiving the placebo. In this case, there may be harm to the person and the experimenters are held reliable.