Hey Everyone!
When I was reading Jeff’s blog I realized he brought up an excellent point when asking about placebos and if they actually demerit a treatment such as acupuncture. I thought it was an interesting question and decided to look up some information about placebos. According to the American Cancer Society placebos have an effect in every 1 in 3 patients. Scientific research involving placebos has shown that these patients in particular have a change in brain activity due to the placebo. I think that in itself is pretty interesting and hopefully further research will determine its implications. While I don’t think a placebo necessarily demerits a treatment, I do think the treatment needs to be investigated and then explained as to what it truly does…not just what it is thought to do.
On another note, in addition to the placebo effect there is a nocebo effect. I was unaware of this and thought it was somewhat interesting. The placebo effect results in the positive outcome someone was hoping for, while the nocebo effect results in unpleasant symptoms as a result of the placebo. Together they are referred to as the expectation effects. If the patient expects to feel sick from a particular medicine they most likely will, and if they expect to gain relief from pain, they will most likely find their symptoms eased. I don’t think we can demerit placebos and the affect our brain, and our faith, have on our healing.
Brianna Cosentino
Thank you for posting all that great information about placebos and nocebos Brianna. After all the science classes I have taken, I find it amazing that 1 in 3 people experience effects from taking a placebo. It seems like the mental factor of healing is extremely important. I would be really interested to see more studies about meditation and yoga practices and how those affect patients suffering from illness and disease. I would predict that people would experince results similar to the placebo effects.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of mind over matter is truly a great subject of discussion. It doesn't seem surprising that many people do see effects from placebos, when naturally it seems that just as many people trick themselves into feeling some sort of illness in the first place. The notion of yoga or meditation is also interesting, in that there are many claims around the world of the mystical powers the brain and body hold, so could possibly not cure ourselves.
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