Content Creator: Ananya Anindita Content Editor: Ayisha Farah Placebos are substances or procedures that resemble an actual treatment, but are not one in itself. The effect it has on the illness is fake; it does not work independently and has had positive and sometimes negative outcomes (known as the nocebo effect). It is dependent on the person’s expectations in harmony with the body’s natural healing power. If they expect their pain to reduce, it just might, and if they expect side effects, they might occur. Placebos do not cure a disease; they simply create an illusion of treatment and are helpful with conditions that are affected by perception, such as pain, stress, insomnia, and cancer treatment side effects like fatigue and nausea. The most common psychological theory that psychologists have come up with, as to what placebos exactly do are that our expectation for improvement alters our perceptions of discomfort and even activates areas of the brain associated with things like pain control, and increases the number of feel-good hormones, like endorphin, dopamine, etc. However, the placebo effect is not fully understood. Scientists are still trying to understand the exact conditions it affects and to what degree. "The placebo effect is more than positive thinking — believing a treatment or procedure will work. It's about creating a stronger connection between the brain and body and how they work together." Studies have been conducted where depression patients are prescribed placebos as antidepressants, and they have shown a significant amount of reduction in depression level as compared to those who know they have been given placebos. This proved that a person’s state of mind is complexly involved with their mood. Non-medical ways, that is, clinical therapy can and should be preferred to treat depression. ‘Hypnosis’ is considered a placebo treatment. No substance is physically induced into the body, but it does change the client’s expectations. Doctor Irving Kirsch thinks of it as a nondeceptive placebo. Virtually, all psychotherapeutic treatments are a placebo. Placebos were initially used to test the impact of medication. Some patients were prescribed the actual pain relief pill, and some were administered placebos. If the extent of relief of the placebo was the same as or more than that of the actual pill, the drug test was considered a failure. However, now, it is not perceived as a sign that the medication does not work, instead, an alternative method of non-pharmaceutical treatment may be present. A study published online by PLOS Biology in 2016, showed us the probable placebo sweet spot. The researcher administered placebo plain killers for patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis, and greater activity was detected in the middle frontal gyrus brain region, which makes up about 1/3rd of the frontal lobe, during the brain scan. One of the most successful physicians I have ever known has assured me that he used more bread pills, drops of colored water, and powders of hickory ashes than of all other medicines put together. It was certainly a pious fraud. More research should be done on this to see how dependable it is as a treatment. Studies have shown 30% of patients responding to placebos in antidepressant and antipsychotic trials. So why not bring it into mainstream treatment instead of the traditional pill culture? Placebos have exerted a positive biological impact and do not affect our internal organs, unlike other medicines. Hence, they are a healthier option that we should go for, and should be seriously considered as a more common form of treatment. REFERENCES https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect https://www.waldenu.edu/online-doctoral-programs/phd-in-clinical-psychology/resource/the-power-of-the-placebo-in-psychology https://www.healthline.com/health/placebo-effect#what-we-dont-know https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3602922/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6195310/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/placebo https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/why-we-need-more-research-into-the-placebo-response-in-psychiatry/9F1680D8A41D5AE4BB7969D174082816
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Sejal Mankar
5/20/2021 06:59:09 am
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