The Placebo Effect
We all know about the placebo effect. For years patients have been given ‘dummy’ pills that contain nothing beneficial and yet somehow often seem to have the same, or even greater, effect than a course of medication that does contain carefully prepared active ingredients.
A recent Horizon programme, The Placebo Effect, featured Professor Tor Wager from the University of Colorado who said: “The placebo effect taps into our natural pharmacy.”
He’s a neuroscientist who studies what happens in the brain when people receive a placebo that they think is a painkiller. “When we’ve given people a placebo treatment what we see is the release of endogenous opioids, which is the brain’s own morphine. What that means is that the placebo effect is tapping into the same pain control circuitry as opiate drugs like morphine.”
Isn’t it amazing that just by opening our minds to possibility of a ‘cure’ or relief from symptoms we can trigger our bodies’ own healing mechanisms.
Dr David Hamilton is a leading author in the field of mindbody connection but interestingly it was his own interest in the placebo effect as a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry that propelled him into studying the power of the mind over the body.
Time after time he would see the results of drug trials where the patients given the placebo reported back — within one or two per cent – the same level of increased wellbeing or reduction in symptoms as those who had been given the actual medication.
David found that the placebo effect was unexpectedly high for conditions like depression. He talks of a 2008 study of several well-known drugs covering 35 clinical trials that involved 5,133 patients, found that the placebo effect accounted for 81 per cent of the effect of these drugs. Empathy and assurance also activate the placebo effect. The Horizon programme showed better results for patients who were communicated with whilst having treatments as oppose to a cold uncommunicative atmosphere. In his brilliant book How your mind can heal your body David Hamilton says that if we all took on board that our own thoughts, beliefs, hopes and expectations play a part, and take more responsibility for our own health and wellbeing - we could probably save the NHS a small fortune!
How your mind can heal your body by Dr David Hamilton is published by Hay House