Is the placebo effect real?
People across the world are still struggling to grasp the reality of placebos since the first clinical study of the placebo effect was published in 1799. That study showed that people who unknowingly received sham treatments for chronic pain responded so well that many of them no longer needed help walking, and reported their chronic pain reduced or cured.
Yet the mere idea that something chemically inert could relieve a person's pain or help their recovery can be both fascinating and mysterious to the average person. Compared to actual medicine the placebo effect can seem a bizarre concept. Can something with no therapeutic value, like a sugar pill help you feel better? Are placebo effects real?
The word placebo originates from Latin and means ‘I shall please’. And that it does! It has been proven through many different studies and researches that placebo-treated patients can show considerable improvement in many different symptoms and conditions.
Is the placebo effect real?
Many researches studying placebo responses in the brain have confirmed the power of placebos. The benefits of these treatments are not just imaginary. Measurable and significant physiological changes have been observed in those who take placebo instead of medications. Successful placebo effects are observed in blood pressure, heart rate and pain management issues.
It is highly likely that not everyone who takes placebo will get the same response. Had that been the case, we might have stopped using medications by now. Yet a real question remaining about placebo treatments is how to separate a placebo response from the effect of the medicine itself. Since 1964 nearly every prescription medicine has been required by law to prove itself more effective than placebo treatment alone. It has been calculated that the placebo response of approved medicines is 20% to 80% of the medicine’s true effectiveness.
Science proves placebo treatments can be effective
Current research has developed a clear understanding of why certain people improve with placebos and others do not. People who respond to placebo treatments expect to improve, and their trust in medical science dramatically improves their expectation that a specific treatment will help.
A study by PLOS Biology has successfully identified the effect of placebos inside the human brain. Brain scans of people with chronic knee pain due to osteoarthritis were taken before and after placebo treatments. It was observed that those who felt pain relief had a lot of activity in the middle frontal gyrus brain area which makes one-third of our frontal lobe. This validates the power of placebos and how just by taking an inert pill, can help people feel better by triggering the release of the same neurotransmitters that drugs seek to target.
Give yourself a placebo
You can give yourself a placebo knowingly and it can be just as effective as a treatment that pretends to contain medicine. And you can give yourself a placebo treatment without taking a fake pill too. The idea behind this mysterious phenomenon is to engage in anything that FEELS therapeutic. And there are ways to increase your placebo responsiveness, like taking part in the ritual of healthy living, eating clean, involving yourself in exercise or yoga, making deeper social connections, or meditating- all these provide some of the important ingredients of a placebo effect.
All these activities, if practiced with positivity and full attention, act as a stimulus and can encourage your brain to release the same neurotransmitters that medicine might target to ease your symptoms or generally make you feel better. The amount of love and emotional support you give yourself also helps you heal in this mind to brain process. You can help your mind conquer your body and soul. You can observe for yourself how your conscious mind helps you heal from within.
The human mind is a complete world in itself and much of it is still a mystery. The mere expectation of feeling better after taking a pill or engaging in a healthy activity generates the placebo effect and causes the brain to release the neurotransmitters that provide relief or a general feeling of wellbeing. It makes one think further about the countless possibilities our brains could be capable of. If only we knew!