How do placebos reduce pain?
Scientists and doctors across the world have been studying placebos for more than two centuries now. These medical interventions in the form of a pill, injections, or even sham surgery lack therapeutic makes one wonder how placebos reduce pain?
Placebo Analgesia
Placebo analgesia has been observed by scientists again and again not just in pain clinics but also in neuroscience laboratories. Scientists have been able to document a placebo response in the brain’s pathways. Believing in medical treatment has proven to have real, physiological effects on our bodies.
According to a 2014 study “Labeling of Medication and Placebo Alters the Outcome of Episodic Migraine Attacks”, placebo pills provided relief to migraine patients and helped them in pain management. It was also concluded that the placebo response was best in volunteers who were emotionally self-aware, sensitive to painful situations, and were mindful of their surroundings.
Placebo effects are real and are proven to benefit patients by reducing pain. However, the effect of placebo is determined by how much you believe in it and your state of mind.
Trick Your Mind
Take a minute and think about the worst pain you have ever experienced in your entire life. How bad was it? Rate it on a scale of 0-10 where zero is no pain and 10 is the worst pain imaginable. At times some pain feels like it could score higher than a 10 on the scale-like when your pinky toe is stubbed somewhere. Ouch. That hurts so much. Now imagine you stubbed your toe in two different situations. In the first scenario, you are at a friend’s place having the time of your life. Remember back in the pre-COVID 19 era, you could dance and laugh away with your friends in a crowded party. You are a happy person, an energized, loving life. Positivity is all around and then suddenly you bang your pinky toe right into the hardest piece of furniture lying in the room. You stop right in your track, the pain engulfs you but for a second only because your favorite music track is on and you have got to show your next move to your friends, so what do you do? Notice the pain for a few seconds and then carry on having fun.
Now in a second scenario, you are home alone because it's the post COVID era. You lost your job two months ago and your Netflix payment is due. You are in a terrible mood, on the verge of tears and then you hit your pinky toe. OUCH. It hurts so much that you cry the rest of the night away. Now, despite the fact that the pain stimulation was the same in both the situations, you can easily imagine that the experience would be completely different which tells us one thing about the psychological effect of pain. Our thoughts and feelings have an immense influence on how we experience pain. These thoughts and feelings can be easily maneuvered in placebo treatments to reduce pain.
It's all about the power of the mind.