Addicted To A Placebo
Did you know that people can be addicted to a placebo?
Placebos are fake treatments given to people–and they sometimes work as well or better than the “real thing.” When drugs are tested, they’re typically tested against a placebo to show that they’re more effective. (The way drug companies manipulate these results is another story.)
I’ve always been fascinated by the power of placebos. The video below highlights some of the more interesting and puzzling findings about them.
Is Hypnosis Just A Placebo?
The research I’ve seen indicates that while hypnosis may be related to the placebo effect and includes the placebo effect, it’s not only the placebo effect. For instance, a study published in Contemporary Hypnosis found that hypnotism was almost twice as effective as placebo (Contemporary Hypnosis, 26(2): 93-110, 2009).
Of course every treatment includes the placebo effect. Since every treatment does, what can we do to magnify the placebo effects in order to help peple heal more quickly and fully? It brings up some interesting moral issues, doesn’t it?
Enjoy,
Keith
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Leave A Reply (5 comments so far)
Bridget McKenna
386 days ago
“Our minds create the medicine.”
Yep. The expectation of anything makes it more likely to happen. Some people think this is about reality. Others think it’s about our perception of reality. And I wonder where we might find the dividing line, when it’s at home.
How I wish the medical profession would take this to heart. I saw a program on the placebo knee surgeries some years back that had such marvelous results. The doctor who performed them said the results sort of blew his whole medical education–in fact the entire practice of medicine–right out of the water. Everything needed to be rethought now, he said. But I’m not sure that idea trickled down very well. I’m pretty sure most people in the profession have no idea those surgeries even took place.
Keith Livingston
386 days ago
Well said Bridget.
It’s clear that the medical profession is a mixed bag. There’s not that much of modern healthcare that’s scientifically based, believe it or not. Well-meaning doctors make the same cognitive errors “normal” people do. Plus, they’ve got a lot of big money trying to make sure they see things a certain way. And I think it’s important to recognize that the AMA is an organization that lobbies on the behalf of the medical profession–not the general public. I agree, I don’t think most people are aware of the placebo surgery study. And I don’t think most people are aware of where the U.S. ranks in terms of healthcare and mortality.
Keith
Steve
384 days ago
I tend to believe there is no reality beyond our perception of reality. If a tree falls in a forest, and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? I say no. If no one is there to hear the tree fall, there is no one there to even create the forest; it doesn’t exist. That’s all fun philosophy to ponder. And it does explain the placebo effect. But, hard to prove one way or the other.
But what has been proven is the ability of our minds to dramatically alter our ‘reality’, or at least the experience of our perceived reality. A study published by JAMA in 2010 found that depression medications are little better than placebos for all but the most severe depression (see summary at http://www.revolutionarymd.com/resources/Antidepressant_Drug_Effects_and_Depression_Severity.pdf).
Several studies have found that people who had depression and heart disease (and/or diabetes) had half the medical cost for the treatment of their heart disease when they had their depression treated as those who had heart disease but did not have treatment for their depression. (see http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/162/16/1860, http://health.msn.com/health-topics/cholesterol/treating-the-triple-whammy-heart-disease-depression-and-diabetes)
Karl W. Wirtz
381 days ago
Our mind is the drug store! What do you want to fix you can. Whatever you want to fail it will.
We bring it own to our selves.
Keith Livingston
380 days ago
Hi Karl,
I agree that our mind is remarkable and is capable of doing many things for us–for more than most people are aware of. But you can not fix anything through hypnosis and the power of the mind. You can’t.
Sincerely,
Keith Livingston