(science and technology) Scientists find placebos trigger physical healing

It has been found that by "the power of expectations" your physical health (not just psychological ) can actually effect your body, physically. One of the findings is in Alzheimer patients, which suggests once the patient does not expect a painkiller to help them, it hardly works at all. In many experiments today scientists will give either a experimental drug or placebo pill to patients. Many times those receiving the placebo will actually feel better or cured. It was always believed that these placebos had only psychological effects, but now it is being proven that there are also physical effect, which can lead to new and important neuroscience breakthroughs.



It’s amazing to think that my brain could physically react to placebos. I mean I have never been part of some cool experiment with placebos, but it is hard to believe that your convictions can actually physically alter your mind/body. Our brains can do some very amazing things, and this is just another tremendous characteristic added to the list.

[edit on 28-11-2005 by nonpoint]

[edit on 28-11-2005 by nonpoint]

[edit on 28-11-2005 by nonpoint]

Well, if nothing else, this could save the drug companies untold billions on research and development, not to mention all those chemicals. Does this mean we can smoke rabbit tobacco and get high? Treat cancer with sugar? I know the placebo affect is real, but I wouldn't expect a whole lot to come of this except maybe the lectures you always get from your MD and Pharmacist.

I've heard stories where people were given sugar pills, but were told that they were some great new migraine medicine that really worked, and in just like 20 minutes or so their migraines went away.

Now that we know this.
Will the Placebo effect lose it's power?
Might we suspect it's nothing more than effect?
And have to switch back to Real Meds again..?

This (to me anyway) shows how powerful our mind is.

Excellent find

Our minds are much more influenced by suggestion than most of us would like to think. If this were not true Madison Ave. would not even exist.

In this vein, hypnotist can touch a subject with a ballpoint pen, after telling them it is red hot and they will recoil in pain and their SKIN WILL BLISTER.

Faith healing may have more validity than we can imagine.

Grady (in particular), I see one potential benefit to this, but it'd be years away even if the right minds and wallets decided to go after it. They've proven now that it does happen; if they can figure out how it happens, they may be able to work with that to get some kind of super-cures based on suggestion. Sounds kinda lame, but if it works, it'd be great--cure cancer by listening to a hypnosis tape, while you learn spanish and quit smoking, all in the same 30 minutes.

This is very interesting to me, I have read medical reports about the placebo effect, and of neural-bio manifestations (Like the person above said about the hypnotist and the ballpoint pen thing.).

I hope they put more research into this, especially exactly how the brain causes physical manifestations of the body to cure.

Heres some more information on placebos and the power of suggestions. It gives an example of one experiment with hard alcohol, probably vodka. One group gets real alcohol, the other only water. They are all under the same conditions and have no idea that one group is recieving water instead of alcohol. Strangely, some of the people drinking the water actually thought they were becoming inebriated. This would be a big money saver for me I wonder how many people in past history have actually been saved by convictions they had about medicines. This could have played a large part in tribal medicines, or am I wrong?

link....www.bcx.net...

Although I didn't notice it mentioned in the article, these finding give some credence to faith healing, but I don't expect placebos and Benny Hinn to replace conventional medicine any time soon.

I agree with Umbrax...

It's already known that you can alter your physical apparence and even facial features just by having a conviction and feeling that it's been changed or altered.

So why not physical healing?

I'll take it a step further. You are always consciously and unconsciously altering or creating your reality at every moment in time. So this is definitely not new.

True.

I cant speak for everyone but I do see myself in different ways, probably subconsciously changing into a certain appearance I want. However is this appearance just in my mind?

It would be interesting to see someone get a "fake" plastic surgery, giving them some makeup and a facial. Then telling them that you made minor alterations to their face and how wonderful they now look. Would their physcial appearance actually contort, even slightly, because of these convictions?

I think that many problems in life can be taken care of by a change in attitude and/or a positive outlook on life.