The power of suggestibility and the mind
Placebo comes from the word "to please".
There was once a war-time surgeon who, while performing morphine-requiring procedures on soldiers, ran out of morphine. Instead of deterring from the accumulating list of soldiers needing medical attention, the doctor decided to come up with another option.
That surgeon made the call to use a simple saline injection instead (you read that correctly), and quickly realized that he was still able to perform the surgeries with very little pain felt by the soldiers. And so began the study on placebos.
Every single drug has to be tested against a placebo, and in most scientific studies, there are changes in a person's health when a placebo is administered without the recipient knowing. In double and triple-blind studies there are even times when the doctor and/or researcher aren't made aware that a placebo is being used.
Now, most studies always consider a person's mind to be an important element in how the body is affected.
In case you're curious how the efficiency of a placebo is determined (if you weren't, I recommend that you reconsider), some proven factors include:
Conditioning: for generations, it has been ingrained that you must take something outside of you in order to "fix" something inside of you
Expectation: when a patient is told, "this drug is highly effective," that drug is then offered to be seen as a symbol of possibility
If the doctor is enthusiastic about the placebo or study, it's been proven to be more effective via trust in the word of that figure (aka further conditioning)
Clever marketing:
If a drug is give a name that rhymes with what it's being given to treat, it's been proven to subconsciously cue certain beliefs about the healing power of it
If a drug is hard(er) to pronounce, it's been proven that many people will give their power over to it
Certain colors of drugs have been proven to be received as more effective than others
Drugs with a higher price tag, even if it's the placebo version, have been proven to "work better"
...leaving Dr Joe Dispenza to wonder, "Is it the inert substance that's doing the healing? Or is it the body's innate capacity to heal?"
Sure, you've heard of the placebo effect...but have you heard of the nocebo effect?
Nocebo translates to "I shall harm," and occurs when someone is given the placebo of a substance and experiences the side effect of the drug.
Nocebo is the "opposite side of the placebo coin," says Vitaly Napadow, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Center for Integrative Pain NeuroImaging at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“In the same way the brain’s circuitry can down-regulate pain or the severity of other aversive sensations — that’s the placebo effect — the brain can also upregulate these sensations, and that’s nocebo effect,” he explains.
While the placebo effect has received greater public interest and medical recognition, Napadow also says that the nocebo effect is likely stronger, and its implications for public health are potentially far broader. Details for one of his studies can be found here.
Never underestimate the power of thought
"Research shows that 4 out of 5 people suffering from depression have responded as well to the placebo as they do to the drug for depression." -Dr Joe Dispenza
"When you look at their brain scans after the end of a study, you see a significant change in the way their brain is functioning. That means that they are making their own pharmacy of anti-depressants by thought alone." Joe continues, also noting that "eery single day the person decided to take that pill it was a reminder of moving into a new state of being."
Optimism increases while looking forward to the hopeful outcome.
The thought of the outcome invokes a deeper sense of gratitude.
That inspiration allows for a clearer intention and elevated emotion, changing their state of being.
The questions then become:
Do you need the sugar pill or the saline injection to move into a new state of being?
Is some external substance really necessary to convince you to move into a new state of being?
Is thought alone really enough?
Insight to ponder, don't you think?
By Sam Jump.
