The Flip-side of a Placebo

Our thoughts create our reality.

That's a pretty potent statement. Some might agree. Some might disagree.

How about this one:

Our beliefs create our reality.

Different? Or similar to the first statement? Do you agree or disagree?

Gandhi famously said:

Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.

In which case, beliefs and thoughts are inextricably linked. What we believe about the world, about our reality, influences what we think about the world. If we believe the world is a dangerous place, we will think "danger". We will speak "danger". We will act as if "danger" is everywhere. We will value security above all else. We will become cautious and distrustful of others. Look around and see if that isn't the case with people that you know.

But do our thoughts and/or beliefs really create our reality? Good question. Let's take a look.

So, everyone (I hope) has heard of a placebo. During medical trials of new drugs, physicians will give some patients the new drug while other patients will be given a placebo. The placebo is an inert pill that will cause no benefit to the patient. It's sometimes called a sugar pill but... obviously in a study of diabetics, a sugar pill would not be a placebo! The doctors don't know whether patients are getting the real drug or the placebo. The patients don't know either. The pills look exactly the same. The placebo group is supposed to be the control group - a baseline against which the benefits of the real drug can be measured. The patients receiving the placebo shouldn't see any benefit from the pill that they receive. Except funny things happen with placebos. Placebo patients often DO improve. They are exhibiting the placebo effect, a well-known phenomenon that happens when patients receiving the placebo believe that they are getting the real drug and... see an improvement.

All well and good. Now for the kicker. How many of us have heard of a nocebo? A what?

A nocebo is something that should be ineffective (like a placebo) but which causes symptoms of ill health (the reverse of a placebo). It's like the bad cousin of the placebo. For example, patients might be given a pill and told about some of the nasty side-effects that they might experience. After taking the pill, the patients develop the side-effects. Except... the pill was actually inert. It was a nocebo. The patients believed that side-effects could develop and they did.

Which leads to some rather startling ideas. What we believe or think really does make a difference in our own health. Which isn't actually a new idea. Take a look through the four Gospels and count the number of times that Jesus healed someone and said to them "Go, your faith has made you well." But wait a minute... wasn't it Jesus and his faith that healed people? Apparently not.

Take a look at Mark 6:1-6 where Jesus visited his hometown. They weren't the most receptive crowd and he could do no miracles there, except heal a few people. He was amazed at their lack of faith (unbelief). Same story told a bit differently in Matthew 13:58 - "And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief". In Luke 8:43-48, we hear of a woman who snuck up to Jesus through the crowd and touched the hem of his cloak without any overt action on his part. She believed that if she touched his cloak, she would be healed. And she was.

Which makes me wonder. What are my beliefs about health and life? Some people believe that the new smart electricity metres emit radiation which harms their health. And they develop symptoms. Other do not believe the metres are harmful. And don't develop symptoms.

We are told so many things in our lives. About the world. About ourselves. Some things we believe. Others we do not. Doctors tell us that we have a chronic illness - mental or physical. We believe them. We buy into that belief and we think the thoughts that go with that. What if we believed differently? What if we thought differently?

What about our collective beliefs and thoughts? If we collectively buy into the belief that the world is going to heck in a handbasket, what do you think will happen? What if we believed differently? What if we thought differently. What if we acted differently.

We might just change the world.

(Check out this BBC article for more info on nocebos)

Placebo & Nocebo

We've all heard of the placebo effect... I think. That's when they do controlled studies and they give one group of people a certain medication to help with some disease or medical issue. And they give another group, the control group, a sugar pill instead of medicine, but tell them that they are receiving medicine. Then they compare the two groups. You would expect that the medicated group would see some improvement (if the drug works) and that the placebo group would see no effect whatsoever, since all they are receiving is sugar pills. Well, there's something called the placebo effect which means that the placebo group often does see some improvement, and it is because that group believes that they are receiving medicine... so someone that makes a difference.

Now, they've done studies on the nocebo effect... The idea is this... you expose a group to some pain and ask them to rate their pain. Then you give them a painkiller (via IV) and tell them they are receiving a pain killer and ask them to rate their pain (it's lower than before). Then, you expose them to the pain again, give them the pain killer (via IV), but tell them they are receiving nothing for the pain... and ask them to rate their pain... and they rate their pain as almost as high as the first time... That's the nocebo effect. Even if the body receives a pain killer, if the person doesn't believe they are receiving a pain killer... or don't believe that it will make a difference... then it won't. This could explain why so many chronic pain sufferers, who go from doctor to doctor, seeking relief from their pain... get no relief. After a while, they begin to believe that nothing will make any difference... and so it doesn't...

Both the placebo and nocebo effect depend on our beliefs... Our mind and its beliefs can influence our brain and our body... Kind of cool...

And now there's another study that says you can get an even more powerful result by telling people that they are getting a placebo, telling them about the placebo effect, and encouraging them in positive thinking... Huh... go figure...