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Stress? Worry? Understanding Placebos Can Help You feel better!

09/18/2024|Simply Natural Medicine|

“What you believe, you shall receive!”

The placebo effect has bewildered the medical field for a long time. In fact, the placebo effect describes a situation in which a person’s health improves for no apparent reason: a concept that does not jive with modern medical science.

In fact, we find ourselves resigned to the idea that belief is the cause of recovery when the placebo effect appears.

Historical accounts of the placebo effect are fascinating, and the principal story told involves Henry Beecher, a prominent medical doctor who treated soldiers during WWII. At one point, the military field hospital – always a chaotic environment — experienced a morphine shortage, and in desperation, he injected a patient with saline, telling them that they were receiving morphine.

The patient then peacefully sailed through battlefield surgery with no reports of pain or discomfort, presumably due to the belief that he had actually received morphine. And the placebo effect was born.

In modern day medical research, placebos are used to determine whether a treatment is effective or not. Medical studies often begin by dividing the participants into two groups with the same medical condition.

One group receives doses of the treatment that is being studied, and the other group receives a placebo – often a sugar pill — which is designed to have no therapeutic effect.

After participants from each group provide evidence of having followed the researcher’s instructions completely and finished all the required doses, the research team revisits all the participants to see if anything has changed.

Of course, what they expect (or hope) to find is that the health of the persons taking the actual substance has improved, while the health of the persons taking the placebo has stayed the same (or even declined.)

But sometimes the placebo surprises everyone and improves a patient’s health: the placebo effect in action.

It’s a radical concept about the power of the mind: the understanding that our thoughts play a major role in creating a stable environment for self-healing in the physical body, mind and emotions.

In his book, Mind to Matter, Dawson Church explains that thoughts can influence your health because the way you think can have a direct, physical effect on your brain cells.

Church also tells us there is a lot of movement in brain cells and that they appear to be constantly changing as if set on “boil.”

Having a natural tendency to organize, create and expand, brain cells form new connections based on the character and direction of our thoughts. Also, the most used areas/pathways in the brain tend to expand the most.

And this is important because …

When we are obsessed with negative – or positive – thoughts, the part of the brain relating to those thoughts tends to expand, grow and develop stronger connections.

So, it is important to be aware of your thinking, because your thoughts can change the way the brain works.

In other words, thinking negative thoughts encourages the brain to create more negative thoughts … vs. … thinking positive thoughts encourages the brain to create more positive thoughts. See how it works?

Improve your health with the Placebo effect!

The placebo effect reminds me of an M. Night Shyamalan movie, Lady in the water, in which the character, “Reggie” (Freddy Rodriguez,) only exercises one side of his body, so that the side where he focuses most of his energy becomes much larger and more developed than his arm on the other side.

(This just makes me think of one big arm.)

And when the brain expands, it develops its strongest connections in areas that relate to the things we think about the most, while other areas of the brain become less energized.

I’m making this point because I’ve noticed that many people allow negative emotions — like fear, anger, and anxiety — to overwhelm their thinking.

And when you allow these negative emotions to overwhelm you, it’s like telling the brain to produce more thoughts of fear, anger, and anxiety (making a bigger arm.)

And allowing these negative emotional thoughts to flourish often leaves you with feelings of low energy, depression, and hopelessness.

The same rule applies if you allow negative information to take over your thoughts, focusing on things like … news characterized by suffering and violence, overly depressing thoughts relating to a breakup (the Patsy Cline Syndrome) or even gloomy thoughts about an incurable disease (yours of someone else’s.)

Remember, your brain will actively expand – and gain brain mass – in areas corresponding to the concerns that cross your mind the most (things you obsess over,) so that your gloomy thoughts create more gloomy thoughts.

On the other hand, focusing on good thoughts encourages the brain to build new connections in line with positive thinking. Healthy, happy thoughts create more healthy, happy thoughts.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that sickly people who are able to think clearly and latch on to a valuable purpose … a reason to recover … often seem to regain their health quicker and more effectively than those who allow doom and gloom to possess them.

Positive thinking is powerful and appears to work like a good luck charm: suddenly, you feel like the universe is on your side.

Having worked with a lot of extremely sick people and been sick myself, it is my opinion that it’s easier to recover when you choose not to base your whole identity — the whole of who you are — on your diagnosis or your poor state of health.

And believe me, I’ve seen a lot of people practice this “woe is me” mentality.

This is a very challenging situation because doctors often identify you (tag you) by your official diagnosis, no matter how dreary. They’re like, “So what is your diagnosis? You are a person with such and so disease?”

One patient I used to visit in the community was directed by his doctor to watch TV comedies (laughter therapy) for his depression, so he decided to watch every last episode of the classic TV show: The Munsters, taking me right along with him.

And although The Munsters was not my first choice of comedy, I will say this guy had the right idea, focusing on laughter. (Building a bigger arm.) (Building connections in the area of the brain affected by laughter.)

Having observed many sick people in my lifetime, it is my opinion that when you constantly focus all your thoughts on the fact that you have a disease … all the characteristics of that disease … how to survive that disease …

You can become stuck in a disheartening groove that absorbs and devours your personal power, diverting precious energy away from mental activities that support health and healing.

If this sounds like you, it’s more important than ever to change your thinking and focus on uplifting subjects … fill your mind with healing thoughts … toss the bad thoughts out for recycling.

Remember when, during a drug trial, those taking the placebo got better by merely the thought that they might be taking a promising medication?

The reason for this may be that the placebo participants’ thoughts and hopes about the promise of healing formed new connections in the brain (a bigger arm.)

And these new neural connections expanded and created a new, more healing foundation — a new mental environment — that helped them to heal from the condition being studied.

Dawson Church – awesome health writer — makes the point that maintaining emotional stability can support your immune system. And it does seem that strong, unwelcome emotional thoughts (even scattered thoughts) can throw your mind into disorder and even encourage illness.

In my own experience, maintaining a peaceful outlook on life — prioritizing emotional control — appears to create a stabilizing effect on mental health, and this allows the brain the space it needs to engage in self-healing.

Peaceful thoughts expand into stronger peaceful thoughts (a bigger arm.)

One way to develop a peaceful, balanced mindset is by engaging in mindfulness meditation, which is easy and everyone can do it. I’ve learned mindfulness from groups I’ve attended, and here are several ways to begin the practice.

Keeping a quiet mind … you do this by simply emptying your mind of all thoughts. The goal is to stay in this quiet-mind state for at least 10 minutes. If any thoughts appear, simply shoo them away and keep your mind completely empty for the full 10 minutes. This can be challenging on highly emotional days, but it really helps you become calm and peaceful.

You can also do progressive muscle relaxation for mindfulness practice. To do this, you tell your various body parts to relax, using phrases like, “Relax your forehead,” “relax your neck,” and “Relax your lower back,” until you have gone through as many body parts as you can think of, taking time to really relax any area that is stiff or painful.

Thanks for reading this article at Simply Natural Medicine. You may enjoy our other articles about diets, weight loss psychology, and seasonal depression.

This article was written by Vanna Silverwood, medical writer and outspoken advocate for natural medicine. See more articles at Simplynaturalmedicine.com … Encouraging stability, helping you clarify your health goals … we are always “Natural by nature!“

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