heal thyself
A great deal of physical illness is directly related to mental attitudes. As we heal our psychological/emotional pain, the physical often improves too (and vice versa.)
Does this explain the placebo effect?
Placebos, placebo effect, and the response to the healing situation: the evolution of a concept
Papakostas YG, Daras MD.
Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece.
In spite of its impressive progress, medicine has been strongly criticized for relying on its modern biomedical tradition to the neglect of the psychosocial aspects of health. This neglect may account for patients' dissatisfaction and eventual use of alternative health approaches. The concept of placebo has sustained dramatic "protean" metamorphoses through the ages. For centuries, placebos have been regarded as powerful deceptive therapies. From the middle of the twentieth century, however, conventional medicine has used placebos as methodologic tools to distinguish the specific from the nonspecific ingredients in treatments. In modern medical research, the double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial has been established as the gold standard for the assessment of any new treatment. Recently a new trend regarding placebos seems to have emerged. The placebo and other nonspecific effects elicited by the "healing situation" have been independently subjected to scientific study. Progress in this area may promote useful clinical applications, enabling physicians to broaden their perspectives on the healing process. We present the historical changes of the concept of placebo and the ethical issues raised by their use.
Abstract from Pubmed for
Epilepsia. 2001 Dec;42(12):1614-25.
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January 1st, 2007 - 13:54
I hope you had a wonderful new year’s eve and danced your toes off (metaphorically). And so we begin again (from some arbitrary basis) another cycle in our life. Actually, I guess there’s really no beginning or end. Just a more or less roughly smooth spiral.
I think the power of the mind (whatever that phrase might mean to you) is the very most important factor in the creation of good health and happiness. But one’s attitudes and thoughts are so difficult to steer. It’s like trying to push a length of rope with a weight on the other end…impossible. Yet the same system is so very easy to pull. It only takes a flip-flop in one’s perspective and application of energy.
I wish I could better understand the placebo effect. I have seen its affect on so many lives. If you truly and honestly believe you will get better you often will. There seems to be some threshold of efficacy. It’s difficult to will back an amputated limb, but a positive attitude most definitely diminishes the frequency and intensive of the common colds and flu that fuels our over-the-counter medicine market. Having established these extremes, I am curious as to how far up the disease intensity scale the mind alone can cure.
I have had an inflamed tendon in my elbow for the past few years. No amount of rest, support nor immobilization helped. Without being over-dramatic (I’ve been virtually untouched by pain and suffering in my long life), a woman friend placed a copper bracelet on my wrist and told me it would help. Within a month the pain was completely gone. I thought I was simply humouring this woman and her treatment worked. To this day I don’t know if a copper bracelet really changes something in the body, or whether this woman’s belief in the treatment is what fueled the process and I was just the beneficiary of a “placebo backsplash”.
Step boldly forward with passion in your life and joy in your heart.
p.
January 3rd, 2007 - 08:44
It is interesting that you post about placebos… quite recently I thought that I should produce some cold rememdies that have really great packaging with an asterisk that is visible but not too obvious. On the back indicate that the contents contain no medicinal ingredients but that if you firmly believe that your health will improve, it will. I don’t know how good my sales would be, but I do figure that for at least some people, this placebo would be effective (if combined with rest and liquids).