How the Placebo Effect Works
Many people are very skeptical about the placebo effect, being sure that a dummy cannot have an effect. And I understand this, no one wants to pay money for air. But let's look at it from a scientific point of view and why is placebo used so often in the world?
In touch RISE: a community about nootropics and biohacking. In this article, you will find out if placebo works and is there any benefit from it for us?
What is the “placebo effect”?
Yes, on the one hand, it is indeed a dummy, but if a dummy gives an insignificant, but still result, will it still be a dummy? But let's leave philosophy for later.
Most often, “placebo” is spoken about in a negative context, like “what’s the point of taking a dummy” or “you suggested it to yourself.” In fact, the placebo effect is self-hypnosis, and it does wonderful things, you know.
There is quite a lot of research that shows that false treatments and false side effects actually have an effect on the brain stem, the pain processing center, acting in the opposite way.
Many researchers are still trying to understand why patients feel better after taking a sugar pill. And if patients are told that the placebo has harmful side effects, they often feel bad – this is called “nocebo”.
Moreover, everything changes not only at the level of imagination, but also biochemicalscientists have long recognized this.
How does placebo work?
Indeed, belief and self-hypnosis have measurable effects that can be seen in functional MRI. To find evidence of placebo and nocebo in the brain at one time studyinvited 27 volunteers, 13 men/14 women. They attached a device to their hands that heated up to a moderately painful temperature. Then the subjects were told that they were applying 1 of 3 creams to the affected area: a painkiller, a painkiller that enhanced the effect of heat on the skin, and a cream with no effect. In fact, all 3 creams were regular Vaseline.
All volunteers were scanned using MRI + additional CNS stimulation sensors. Most participants experienced a placebo or nocebo effect
The placebo effect increased activity in the region that transmits information about pain and decreased activity in the region that helps suppress pain. The nocebo effect produced the opposite changes.
The point is that a person subconsciously sets himself up for some effect, this is reinforced by the fact that we find associations, see a doctor in a lab coat, listen to his instructions. At this point, our attitude really begins to change biochemistry brain, the level of endorphins and the release of other hormones increases.
For example, Harvard Medical School has conducted a series of experimentsto check how placebo affects our body:
People with post-traumatic stress disorder demonstrated high placebo response rate – from 19% to 62%;
Placebo operations work more than half the time. The famous study — a surgeon took 180 patients with severe knee pain. He performed arthroscopy on half of them, and gave the other half anesthesia but did not repair anything. For two years after the procedure, the group that had the real procedure felt the same as the group that had the placebo surgery. Here meta-analysis 53 other studies with similar results.
Two groups of people were rated on their pain threshold. Then some were told they would get painkillers for 10 cents, while the others were told they would get $2.50. The pills were placebos. After taking them, each person received ~18 electric shocks. And less Those who took expensive pills were the ones who felt the pain most often
Here's another interesting example. Placebo was 50% more effective than real migraine medicine:
Study in the journal Science Translational Medicine showed how people respond to migraine pain medications. One group took a migraine drug labeled with the drug's name on it, another took a placebo labeled “placebo,” and a third group took nothing. And the placebo worked 50% better than the real drugs.
The results are impressive, aren't they? How can a dummy give such results? Maybe then we will treat all diseases with suggestion? But, alas, it doesn't work that way.
Can everything be treated with placebo?
Of course not, the placebo effect is not a panacea. Large meta-analysiswhich included 130 studies that tried to find the effectiveness of placebos for treating diseases, found only a narrow range of diseases.
The cancerous tumor won't shrink either, but symptoms are decreasing: at best, 21% of patients felt less pain. In the other research In cancer survivors, the feeling of chronic fatigue disappeared by a third.
In most studies, the pharmacological placebo was most often a lactose tablet, the physical placebo was a procedure performed with the machine turned off (e.g., sham transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation), and the psychological placebo was a non-directive, neutral discussion between the patient and the treating physician, called an “attention placebo.”
No treatment was usually observation only or standard therapy, most patients in the study received standard therapy, with placebo as an additional treatment.
Chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, anxiety, some types of asthma and autoimmune disorders are all conditions that are well give in placebo effect.
Lifehack: How to Get a Result from a Placebo
If we summarize the research methods and conclusions, we can understand the approximate methodology for more effective placebo work, here are some tips:
1. Take placebo pills, initially setting yourself up for a positive result, even if you understand that it may be a dummy, the very fact of taking the pills will subconsciously affect your brain. Pills from a doctor also work better, especially from someone you trust.
2. Combine taking pills with something that will help you relieve symptoms or, on the contrary, achieve results. This is taking additional medications, supplements (with a real active substance). Activity for the brain or body or, on the contrary, rest and new activities.
3. Don't forget to do a check-up of your body at least once a year, take vitamins, support the body's work. You won't even understand when you start to get a real effect, even if it's 20%-30%, compared to the same ibuprofen, which works more effectively, but also gives side effects.
What is the benefit for us? Placebo is a cheap, side-effect-free option for achieving the result we need, effective for specific cases.
What's the bottom line?
Let's summarize the facts about placebo:
The placebo effect is recognized by evidence-based medicine
Correct suggestion or self-suggestion gives a positive result.
The percentage of placebo effectiveness varies from 20 to 40%, depending on the conditions and the goal of achieving
Most often, placebo effects are associated with neurotransmitters and the effect on opioid receptors.
Placebo is a good alternative when you don't have a tool at hand that will quickly solve your problem. It's better to get 20%from the placebo effect, why not get it NOTHINGAnother point is that you need to do this consciously, and not give your money for a sugar pill, in the hope that it will solve your problems and cure your disease.
Article written by Ivan S, community member Rise: Nootropics and BiohackingBy the way, we publish content in shorter formats on other platforms.
