Placebo effect is well known among the medical community. I know we atheists might not want to hear it but the mind body connection is pretty strong in all of us.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-he...ebo-effect
It gets even weider. Even when people are told the pills are placebos they have a positive reaction.
I've had acupuncture and felt better afterwards and I fucking KNOW it's placebo effect because there's no proof acupuncture is doing anything real. But I'll be honest, even though I'm a life long atheist I'm still not above the placebo effect. Go figure.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-he...ebo-effect
Quote:our mind can be a powerful healing tool when given the chance. The idea that your brain can convince your body a fake treatment is the real thing — the so-called placebo effect — and thus stimulate healing has been around for millennia. Now science has found that under the right circumstances, a placebo can be just as effective as traditional treatments.
"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," says Professor Ted Kaptchuk of Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, whose research focuses on the placebo effect.
Placebos won't lower your cholesterol or shrink a tumor. Instead, placebos work on symptoms modulated by the brain, like the perception of pain. "Placebos may make you feel better, but they will not cure you," says Kaptchuk. "They have been shown to be most effective for conditions like pain management, stress-related insomnia, and cancer treatment side effects like fatigue and nausea."
It gets even weider. Even when people are told the pills are placebos they have a positive reaction.
Quote:Placebos often work because people don't know they are getting one. But what happens if you know you are getting a placebo?
A 2014 study led by Kaptchuk and published in Science Translational Medicine explored this by testing how people reacted to migraine pain medication. One group took a migraine drug labeled with the drug's name, another took a placebo labeled "placebo," and a third group took nothing. The researchers discovered that the placebo was 50% as effective as the real drug to reduce pain after a migraine attack.
I've had acupuncture and felt better afterwards and I fucking KNOW it's placebo effect because there's no proof acupuncture is doing anything real. But I'll be honest, even though I'm a life long atheist I'm still not above the placebo effect. Go figure.
