When do you give medication to kids and when do you hold off? Barack Levin chooses placebos to help his children.

"The placebo effect, for me, is to give the kids the feeling that they're taking medication when they're not really taking anything," said Barack Levin.

"It looks a little like juice, but it's not a kinda juice. It's a medicine that's red," said Levin's 5 year old son Eden.

One dose usually does it. But some physicians believe parents could end up playing a dangerous game of deception.

"It's not just mind over matter. It's dangerous for the relationship and for trust in medicine," said Tor Wager, Ph.D., Psychologist.

But at least one study shows that placebos can be effective even if the children know what they are. 70 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were asked to reduce their medications gradually by replacing some of the drugs with placebo pills.

"In ADHD in kids, you can reduce the dose of the real medicine, substitute placebo pills and get the same effect on ADHD," said Walter Brown, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Brown University.

After three months, 80% of the children reported that the placebo had helped them. In another child's study of 83 kids with irritable bowel syndrome, 57% felt better after placebo. Two percent felt worse.

Barack does agree with doctors when it comes to putting the placebo away. He says that if his child's problem does not go away within a few hours, he will give them medication or take them to a doctor.

For more information: Ivanhoe Broadcast News2745 W. Fairbanks Ave.Winter Park, FL 32789http://www.ivanhoe.comJulie Marks, Supervising Producer of Prescription: Healthjmarks@ivanhoe.comDirect Line: (407) 691-1500Viewer Line: (407) 740-0789 ext. 579