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For decades doctors have documented the placebo effect -- in which patients feel better after getting fake treatments (sugar pills, saline injections, sham surgeries) they believe to be the real thing. The placebo effect is a ubiquitous phenomenon. We all experience some degree of the placebo effect on a regular basis. But do placebos merely trick the mind or can they genuinely heal the body?
The mind can play such an important role in healing. But it's hard to dispute the fact that up to 70 percent of patients in clinical trials see their symptoms improve simply from a placebo. And doctors are observing these changes on a physiological level. The science proves that placebos don't just change how you feel; they can change your biochemistry.
When you're given a medicine -- placebo or not -- that you believe will help treat whatever is ailing you, your body's relaxation response can naturally turn on. These positive thoughts can set off the release of healing alkalzing minerals and neurotransmitters -- such as sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, dopamine, nitric oxide, and endorphins -- into your bloodstream. The effects of these chemicals can be powerful: Sodium bicarbonate can be released to buffer dietary and/or metabolic acids or nitric oxide can increase blood flow to your organs, for instance, and endorphins can act like nature's morphine, dulling pain.
But in some cases, negative thinking is the cause of the "nocebo effect" -- in which patients feel worse after learning that a treatment may have negative side effects. Our body's natural self-repair systems can't work properly if we're chronically stressed or pessimistic. They're more effective when the relaxation response is dominant.
By studying placebo and nocebo effects, today we are beginning to understand how medical symbols affect the patient’s brain or, in other words, how positive or negative psychosocial contexts can change the brain and body functioning of the patients.
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