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JOHN M. PALMER Ph.D. ASK DOCTOR PALMER
John M. Palmer, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist with a practice in New York City and is presently the Executive Director of Harlem Hospital Center and the Renaissance Health Care Network
The Placebo Effect Dear Dr. Palmer: Recently, I have been hearing a lot about the “Placebo Effect.” What exactly is the “Placebo Effect?” How can it help me improve my own health or improve the wellness of my family? Signed, I Want To Believe. Dear “I Want To Believe:” he placebo effect can be explained very simply. Expectation is a powerful thing and the more we believe we are going to benefit from a treatment, the more likely it is that we will experience a benefit. We can feel better when we believe a treatment is going to make us feel better. Placebos help us understand that the mind has the ability to influence our physical wellness and health. A placebo (pluh-see-bow) is a substance or other kind of treatment that looks just like a regular treatment or medicine but is not actually an active medicine. The placebo effect is an improvement in health or behavior that is not the result of medication or an invasive treatment, but nevertheless, can be felt, measured, or seen. For example, a patient is given an inactive substance, told that it may improve his or her condition, but not told that it is a salt or sugar solution or pill. Receiving the inactive medication may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition. Because the person believes the treatment will encourage their healing, it causes them to feel their condition has improved. One example of this was a study done on people who suffer from asthma. Forty asthmatics were given a placebo twice and told each time that it was a different drug. The first time they were told that the substance would irritate and constrict their airways. The second time, they were told that it would heal and open their airways. Of the 40 participants who were given the placebo irritant, 12 experienced extreme asthma attacks, and seven experienced a significant increase in airway resistance. When the same patients were told they were being given a healing medication, although it was a placebo, their airways opened up. Their perceptions caused them to physically experience either relief or an attack.
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The Positive Community October 2010
In other words, if we expect some type of intervention, activity, or supplement to improve or cure an ailment, our belief in the effectiveness of the treatment can produce an improvement. This change in our symptoms as a result of getting a placebo is very much dependent upon our motivation, perception and expectation. Sometimes, our beliefs, attitudes, and faith can create physical responses in our bodies that promote healing. The power of the placebo effect has been well documented in medical literature. Many studies have shown that a person’s hopeful attitude and beliefs may be very important to their physical well-being and recovery from injury or illness. Even though placebos are not real medicine or real treatments, studies have shown that they have an effect in about one out of three patients. Studies have shown that a placebo described as a muscle relaxant has actually caused the participant’s muscles to relax, and when described as the opposite, caused muscles tense. A placebo presented as a stimulant will increase heart beat and blood flow, but when presented as a depressant, will decrease heart beat and blood flow. When it comes to our health, the connection between the mind and body is powerful. There is significant evidence that when we unleash the inherent, yet not always known healing power of the mind, the body experiences marked improvement. Some people believe that a healthy body begins with a healthy mind. When our minds are highly motivated to be healthy, we involve our bodies in the practice of healthy behaviors, which include eating nutritious food in reasonable amounts, exercising four or more days a weeks, drinking eight glasses of water daily, getting enough rest, and living a moderate lifestyle. These behaviors help us perceive ourselves to be healthy and create in us the expectation that we are going to be healthy. This expectation of good health often results in good health and wellness. The placebo effect helps us understand that the mind is very powerful when it comes to healing and maintaining the body. When we expect something to produce improvement or cure an ailment, sometimes it does. www.thepositivecommunity.com